The Path Not Taken
by Goddess33
Summary: What would have happened if Seto hadn't become the show's snobby rich jerk? Fate hinges on a game of chess...
1. The Path Not Taken

Author's Note: Actually had something else planned to write, but I just had this story idea during a bout of insomnia, so you get this instead. This is the tale of what would have happened if Kaiba _hadn't_ become the resident snobby rich-boy of Yu-Gi-Oh! Enjoy.

**

The Path Not Taken

**

"Checkmate." The smirk accompanying the word was just as sickeningly smug as the man's smile. That one word brought all the hopes of a little boy to a crashing death. He had lost.

Seto, a young orphaned boy, stared in utter denial and mounting horror at the chessboard in front of him. His king was cornered, there was absolutely no possible move for him to make. But it wasn't possible! He had studied every one of Gozaburo Kaiba's chess matches. He knew every move, every strategy! And… he'd _still_ lost? 

"It was a nice try," sneered the CEO of KaibaCorp as he stood up, watching the young boy with amusement laced with contempt. "Better luck next time, kid. But next time, you may want to try challenging someone closer to your level of skill." 

To think, that little kid had thought he could beat _him_ at chess… all so he would adopt the little brat and his snot-nosed brother. Still, the boy was clever, and played a good game… probably would have won even, if Gozaburo hadn't cheated. But the CEO of a multi-million dollar company couldn't lose a game to a kid, now could he? Besides, Gozaburo already _had_ a son and heir… Noa may be a little spoiled and lazy, but proper schooling, the boy would make a fine CEO. Gozaburo certainly didn't need two more kids to babysit. 

Seto hardly took notice as Gozaburo Kaiba left the room. His stare was fixed on the chessboard. It just didn't make _sense_. He should have won! In a fit of frustration, he swept all the pieces off the board in a swift move, knocking over the chair as he leapt to his feet, chasing after the man that should have meant salvation for himself and Mokuba. 

"Seto!" Mokuba yelled, chasing after his older brother. "Wait! Where are you going?"

Paying no heed to his brother's calls, Seto ran out onto the orphanage playground as Gozaburo Kaiba got into his fancy car. "Coward!" Seto yelled after the man. "Dirty cheater! Don't you dare walk away from me!"

Gozaburo ignored the boy's yells as he got into the car. Still seething, Seto snatched up a small rock from the ground and hurled it with every ounce of his young boy's strength. With a loud crash, it left a beautiful spider-web of splintery cracks all over the fancy car's front window. There was pure fury in the KaibaCorp CEO's eyes as he got out of the car. 

Seto took a quick step back, realizing what damage he'd done and to whom. "Run, Mokuba." He grabbed his brother's hand, taking off running back to the orphanage before the furious adults could catch him. "Run!"  

**

Seto lay on his stomach on his little cot that night, trying to sleep. Normally he liked sleeping on his back, but he'd been spanked pretty hard for breaking Mr. Kaiba's window. It wasn't the pain keeping him awake, though. Something inside him still screamed at the unfairness of his loss. 

Sure, he was just a kid, and according to all the adults he knew, his young age was supposed to make him inferior to them. But he was _smart_, and he knew it. He could have beaten that man at chess, and given his brother a better life, far away from this place. But Gozaburo had cheated… he _must_ have. But who would believe a little kid's word against that of the most powerful man in the country? 

"Seto?" Mokuba's soft voice called out to him in the dark.

"Mokie?" Seto whispered, rolling over, ignoring the pain that caused on his tender bottom. "What are you doing up?"

Mokuba sneaked into the room, crawling into his big brother's bed. "I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither." Seto hugged his little brother, the only person in the world that mattered to him. 

"Do you think that man really would have adopted us… if you'd won?" Mokuba whispered.

Seto frowned. "No… he's a bad man, Mokie. I think he cheated… there's no way he could have beaten me fairly! A man like that wouldn't have kept his word, even if I had won."

Mokube hugged Seto closely. "You're still the best chess player in the world, Seto. I wouldn't want that mean ol' man to be our father anyway."

Seto laughed. "You're right, Mokuba. Can you imagine his house? Probably full of nothing but huge books with no pictures, and furniture we wouldn't be allowed on because we'd get it dirty…"

"And we couldn't jump on the beds!" Mokuba chimed in.

"Right! And there wouldn't be anything fun to do at all. No, we certainly wouldn't want to go _there_," Seto agreed.

Mokuba nodded emphatically. "We'll go somewhere nice, instead. With games and candy, and a mom and a dad… and it'll be much better than going with that mean man. Besides… if he became our father, your name would have been Seto Kaiba."

Seto smiled a little, repeating the name, just to see how it sounded. "Seto Kaiba… what's wrong with _that_? It has a nice ring to it." 

Mokuba poked him in the side. "It sounds _silly_. You're certainly not someone who looks like they should be called Seto _Kaiba_. It's all wrong for you." 

"Okay, okay," Seto agreed with a soft laugh. He poked his brother in the side, just to hear Mokuba muffle his giggle. "Alright, go to sleep before we get in trouble." 

Mokuba grinned, cuddling up to Seto. "Mmkay. G'night, Seto."

"Goodnight, Mokie." 

**

"Seto!" Mokuba hissed, shaking his brother a little. "Seto, wake up!"  
  
"Nuhhh…" Seto groaned, pulling the blanket over his head, doing his very best to ignore Mokuba. The day could just go on and start without him.

Five months after Seto had lost the chess game to Gozaburo Kaiba, the two brothers still hadn't been adopted. And it wasn't that there weren't plenty of parents who wanted to adopt Seto. Seto was clearly a very intelligent- and rather cute- child, and plenty of couples envisioned a "Parent of an Honor Roll Student" bumper sticker on their car when considering adopting him. The problem was, Seto refused to go anywhere without his little brother. And Mokuba, though clearly as cute as his brother, was rather… average. And nobody really cared to pick up a stowaway along with the genius. 

"But Seto!" Mokuba said again, trying to drag Seto out of bed. "There's another couple downstairs! They want to adopt you. You gotta come downstairs."

"Forget it, Mokie, there's no point. I'm not leaving without you. Just go back downstairs and tell them that…" Seto yawned, stretching as he sat up, glaring at the room blearily. 

"I have a good feeling about these two," Mokuba said with excitement. "Please? Just meet them."

"Well, if you like them…" Seto muttered, climbing out of bed. Mokuba didn't give him the chance to change out of his pajamas, simply grabbing his big brother's hand and dragging him downstairs.

As he came down the stairs, Seto studied the couple waiting with the orphanage staff. He couldn't fault their appearance. A nice looking man and woman, dressed in clean clothes, well groomed… Worth interrogating, at least, instead of his usual immediate dismissal of all potential candidates. 

"Seto," said the social worker that helped to run the orphanage. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Nishimura. They've been very anxious to meet you." 

Seto looked up at the two people sullenly, examining their faces. The woman had a young, pleasant face, with a nice smile. The man had creases at the corners of his mouth, indicating that he smiled wide and laughed often, and he had kind eyes. Seto found himself relaxing. They'd earned themselves at least a polite handshake. 

"My brother Mokuba said you wanted to adopt me," Seto started out after the introductions were taken care of. "But I'm not leaving here without him. So if you want to adopt me, you gotta take him too." There was no way in Hell that he would be separated from Mokie. 

Mrs. Nishimura nodded at him. "Of course, Mokuba said much the same thing earlier. We would be delighted to have both of you."

Seto was impressed, though determined not to show it. "Alright. Well, I want to see your credentials. Where do you work? How much money do you make? What kind of place do you live in?" These things were important to know before he gave his approval to go live with these people. 

Instead of being offended by Seto's forward questions, the two were happy to answer them. Mr. Nishimura worked at a software company, and his wife was a schoolteacher. They made enough to afford a pleasant little house, just big enough for them and a pair of growing boys. It was certainly a far cry from whatever luxurious surroundings Gozaburo Kaiba had, but… it sounded nice. 

A real home, and a family. A mother and a father, for both him and Mokuba. Seto couldn't find any fault with it. He looked to his little brother, to gauge his reaction.

The excited, hopeful shine in Mokuba's eyes decided it for him as well as anything. Seto turned back to the couple, nodding his approval. "Alright. That sounds fine."

And so the papers were signed, and Seto and Mokuba packed up their meager belongings, to move into their new home, ready to begin a new life. 

**

"Seto Nishimura!" called his mother from downstairs. "Are you awake? You're going to be late for school!"

Seto sat up so fast it made him dizzy, rubbing his eyes and trying to wake up. "Yeah mom, I'm up!" he called back to her, even though he wasn't exactly up _yet_. He'd learned long ago that it was no use to ignore his mother's call when she tried to rouse him. She had nothing against marching upstairs and dumping a bucket of cold dish-water over his head.

Life at the Nishimura residence had been blissfully normal ever since the two boys had been adopted. Seto had excelled through all of his classes with ease, and tended to spend his free time studying huge books that were almost large enough to squash his little brother. Seto had entered high school in pretty much the same way he did everything else; with a perfectly calm, unassuming attitude. Mokuba was an active child, immersing himself in pretty much any sort of sport involving a ball that could break a window… as many of the parents of the neighborhood would attest to.

That morning, the sun shone through the curtains, casting pretty hazy patterns on the floor. After a moment of admiring them, Seto thought he heard his mother coming up the stairs with a fresh bucket of water to dump on him, and he quickly scrambled out of bed to pull on his school uniform, dashing down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab breakfast. 

"Oh, and could you give your brother a ride to school on your way, Seto?" his mother asked, as Seto grabbed a piece of fresh toast and stuck it in his mouth.

"Sure thing," Seto mumbled around his breakfast. After swallowing his bite, he yelled back up the stairs. "Mokie! Move your ass, you'll miss breakfast!" 

"Seto!" his mother scolded. "Don't use such language in this house."

"Right, right," he muttered as he always did, tromping back upstairs to his brother's room. "Mokuba! You'd better not make me late _again_." 

"I'm up!" Mokuba announced, opening the door with one hand, trying to pull on his other sock with his other. Seto barely caught him before he lost his balance and fell over.

"C'mon, Mokie, I'm giving you a ride today." 

Mokuba raced down to grab his breakfast, and Seto returned to his room to grab his school bag. Mornings were always like this in his house. And it wasn't as if he didn't greatly enjoy it. It was a great life here. And still… if ever Seto was to sit down long enough to think about it, it always felt all wrong. Even now, so many years later, he still thought… he _should_ have won that game. Just to show-up that rich bastard Kaiba. One day, maybe…

After gathering his stuff, Seto brought his bicycle out to the front of his house. Mokuba called his goodbyes to their parents, running out to meet his brother. This had become something of a ritual for the two boys. After tying their bags to the back of the bike, Seto would climb on, and Mokuba would scramble up to cling to his brother's back like a monkey. With the proper balance, Seto could carry his brother this way as they rode. 

Despite the crowds, it was always quickest to ride through the downtown area. Mokuba would crouch low, hanging onto his brother all the while, until they came to a certain intersection. Then he would straighten, calling out and pointing as he always did. "Look! There it is!"

Seto slowed the bike to a halt as always, pausing to look. The massive KaibaCorp building loomed above all the rest, a shining monolith among all the other buildings. Seto glowered at it.

"One day, that'll be mine," Seto announced. "The whole KaibaCorp empire. And Gozaburo Kaiba will never know what hit him." 

Mokuba laughed, nodding. "Yeah, that'll show him. You'd be a much better CEO than him or that Noa kid. You really could." 

Seto knew he could. For some reason, he'd always felt like he was made to do it. If only he'd had that chance, so many years ago…  

They started off again, as Seto let his brother off at Mokuba's school. Mokuba waved goodbye as he ran into the building, and Seto turned his bike around, heading for Domino High School. 

He was just despairing about how late he was going to be to his first class, when he heard sounds of some sort of fight going on in one of the alleyways. Curious, Seto halted and got off his bike. He was already late, what harm would a few minutes be? Besides, it sounded like someone was really hurt… 

"Quit it! Please, stop!"

"Come on, get up! Quit crying like a little baby!"

"Hey!" The two bullies looked up as Seto yelled at them. Seto was known for being one of the resident bookworms of the school, but he could also be a tough bastard if provoked. Deciding that fighting with Seto wasn't as much fun as pounding their current target, the two boys shrugged and made an exit. 

Watching the two with some contempt, Seto went to examine what they'd left behind. A small boy, probably little bigger than Mokuba, seemed to be taking temporary respite on top of a bag of garbage. The boy had rather wildly colored hair, styled in all kinds of crazy spikes, and he had the brightest violet eyes Seto had ever seen.

"Hey there…" Seto said, holding out a hand to help the boy up. "You alright?"

"Yeah, fine…" the boy muttered, taking Seto's hand and climbing to his feet. "Thanks for coming by. Those two aren't the _meanest_ bullies of the school, but… it's still no fun getting beat up by them."

"I can imagine," Seto said. He smiled and introduced himself. "I'm Seto Nishimura."

"Yugi Motou," the boy introduced with a bright smile in return. His smile faded as he noticed all of his possessions scattered around the alleyway. Among the papers were quite a few Duel Monsters Cards. "Oh no… quick, help me get them before they blow away!" Yugi scrambled to pick up all the cards.

Seto stooped to help him, glancing at some of the cards as he picked them up. He was rather fond of the game himself, though he rarely had anyone to play against besides Mokuba. Glancing at one of the cards, his eyes widened in shock. "You have a Blue Eyes White Dragon card?"

Yugi nodded, beaming as Seto handed him back the cards he'd picked up. "Yep! These were my grandfather's cards, he gave them to me as a gift. That's his favorite card."

Seto nodded, eyes still a little wide. "They're really rare, aren't they? I've always wanted one…"

"Oh, you play?" Yugi asked, as he repacked his backpack.

"Yeah, a little. I'm not great, mostly I just play against my little brother."

"Thanks for helping," Yugi said again, as the two headed toward the high school, with Seto walking his bike. "We should play Duel Monsters together sometime. I could teach you some tricks and stuff! My grandfather owns a game store, and he knows all about the game…" 

"Yeah, I'd like that," Seto answered, smiling at his new friend. It was developing into an interesting sort of morning.

**

Author's Note: (yeah, another one) Now, don't think that because this ended on a happy note means that I'm finished. There's more to this story, just you wait…  


	2. Waking the Dreamer

Waking the Dreamer

**

For five thousand years, the spirit slumbered 

_Drifting in and out of sleep and hazy half-sleep_

_Never fully aware of all that surrounded him_

_Caught up in a dream and forgetting who he was _

_and what he was meant to be._

"And this is my greatest treasure!" Yugi announced, digging through his backpack, as all the other kids had run out of the classroom for their break. He pulled out a small golden box, covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics, grinning in pride as he showed it to his new friend. "I got it from my grandfather's game shop. It was in the back, all covered in dust and stuff."

Seto examined the box, tracing a finger along the symbol of an eye on the side. "What's in it?"

Yugi pulled off the lid, revealing a dozen gleaming golden pieces. With great care, he picked them each out and laid them on the table for Seto to look at. "It's a puzzle. A very old puzzle, from Ancient Egypt."

The spirit stirred lazily, as he felt the touches to its treasured vessel. But he knew the touches of the small one…When the puzzle was complete, the small one would be his partner, and friend. When the boy had first obtained the puzzle, his touch to the golden pieces had nearly startled the spirit out of his sleep. But now he was used to it, and could continue his slumber.

"I haven't solved it yet," Yugi continued. "It's really complicated."

"Maybe I could help?" Seto offered. "I'm pretty good with solving complicated things." He picked up one of the golden puzzle pieces, turning it over in his hands, examining the shape and craftsmanship. It was well made, and could very well be as old as Yugi said it was.

That new touch- a stranger- caused a ripple of curiosity and anxiety to dredge the spirit up from the depths of his sleep, suspending him in the place between slumber and waking. Almost lucid, the spirit struggled for further clarity to discover the identity of the new one, the stranger that had touched his Puzzle. But it was so hard…the puzzle was incomplete, he could not fully wake. So he lay back and watched, with a dreamy languorousness. Who was this? 

"Sure, you can help!" Yugi agreed. "It'll be great to see this finished. I don't even really know what it'll look like." 

Seto pulled up a chair to Yugi's school desk, and the two began their work on the puzzle, carefully trying and fitting pieces together, chatting idly as they worked together. Slowly, the puzzle began to take a shape.

The spirit drifted in hazy bliss and amusement as the two boys worked to solve his puzzle. The puzzle pieces had been the resting place of his soul for so long…he felt each touch to their smooth golden surface as if it were a touch to his own body. The small one's touch was a familiar comfort, though the boy's hands always trembled with excitement as he solved each small challenge of the puzzle. But the other… the stranger had a confident, unhurried touch, and the spirit found himself very curious indeed about this one.

"What are you two geeks doing?" 

Seto looked up, glowering at the two boys he had found beating Yugi up in the alleyway. Yugi looked up as well, gulping softly and dropping what he was working on. The two pieces he'd just fitted together clanged softly on the table, breaking apart. 

"Er, it's nothing, really…" Yugi murmured. "Just a game." As the two bullies approached, Yugi whispered to Seto, "That's Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor. They- they're not as bad as they like to seem." 

"Of course they're not," Seto muttered, frowning at Joey and Tristan. "They only fight with people smaller and weaker than they are. And lucky for the rest of the world, that's only a very small percentage."

Joey glared at Seto. "Are you calling us _weak_?" 

Seto smiled in a bland, innocent sort of way. "Well, on the bright side, you're not as dumb as you look."

"Guys, stop it…" Yugi broke in, as he hastily scooped up the puzzle pieces and put them back in their box.

Joey frowned, scooping up a handful of the pieces to look at them. "What are these things, anyway?" 

The spirit shifted restlessly, struggling to wake, struggling to escape this dark lethargy that held him back. So many strangers now…was this a friend or enemy? The small one indicated he feared, but more respected, these boys… It confused the spirit.  

"Th-they're puzzle pieces," Yugi said, hesitantly reaching out a hand for them. "Please, could you give them back?" 

"Yeah, sure." Joey dumped the pieces back onto the table, while carefully palming one, hiding it in his jacket pocket as he turned to leave. "Come on, Tristan, it's boring in here." 

Yugi sighed as he put away the remaining pieces. "You see? They're not so bad… I think if they ever decide to stop beating me up, we could even be friends."

Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "Yugi, you have the most forgiving nature of anybody I know. Why would you want to be friends with those two, anyway?"

"They can be nice," Yugi defended, pouting. "They just pick on me because I'm so small and stuff, they're really trying to make me be stronger…" 

"If you say so." Seto stood up. "I'll be right back, alright?" He headed out of the classroom, looking around and heading after Joey and Tristan.

"Think it's worth anything?" Tristan was saying, peering at the little golden puzzle piece. "That is solid gold, isn't it?"

"I guess so," Joey muttered, holding the little stolen piece up to the light. "Yugi really shouldn't bring such valuable things to school. They might get stolen." 

"Excuse me," Seto said calmly as he strode up to the two. "So glad you're enjoying that little puzzle piece, but I'm going to have to ask for that back now." 

"You again?" Joey muttered, pocketing the piece. "Can't you _ever_ stay out of anyone's business?" 

"Not really," Seto said with a shrug. "But I suppose I could make the effort if you'd quit bothering Yugi." 

Tristan snorted. "What is he, your boyfriend or something?"

"I don't really think that's you're place to judge, considering how often I find _you two_ together," Seto commented. "Now, are you going to hand over that puzzle piece or not?"   __

Joey eyed him for a moment, then finally slapped the puzzle piece into Seto's hand. "Yeah, sure. Probably not real gold, anyway. You know… You and that Yugi kid ain't so bad sometimes… even if _you_ act like you rule the world."

"Of course," Seto murmured, pocketing his prize. "Someday I plan to." With a slight wave farewell, he walked back down the hallway to Yugi's classroom.

"You just gave it back to him?" Tristan asked, as he and Joey went the other way. "What for?"

"I dunno…" Joey murmured. "Just seemed like the right thing to do. Like, what if Yugi really needs that piece for something? Something really important."

"I think you've just gone mushy in the head," Tristan retorted. 

"Yeah, maybe," Joey laughed.

The spirit relaxed, ensured that he was en route back to where he belonged. The more of the puzzle that was put together, the stronger he felt… and it had only taken a little nudging to the stranger's true nature to make him return the puzzle piece. Those two weren't so bad after all. 

"Seto!" Yugi cried as Seto walked back into the classroom. He held out the almost-completed Puzzle. "Look! I've almost got all the pieces in, but I think there's one missing! See?" He pointed to the hole. 

"It's alright, Yugi," Seto said as he came in. "I met up with those two boys in the hall, one of them took a piece by accident, and wanted to return it." He set the piece down on the table. 

Yugi was delighted. "Yeah, this is the piece. We could probably finish it before class now, want to try?"

Seto nodded, and the two began work on the puzzle once again. There were only a few more pieces to put in, and with them both working together, it was assembled fast. Yugi held up the last piece.

"Alright, this is it," Yugi announced. "It is…"

The spirit waited with acute anticipation.

Yugi snapped the last piece in place. "Finished!"

Finished! The darkness around the spirit lifted, revealing all the doors and corridors of his own soul, closed off to him for so long. And illuminated with a gleaming golden light, was the path to his freedom.

The stylized eye design on the puzzle began to glow with the fierce joy of the released spirit. Seto shielded his eyes, and Yugi gasped, taking several stumbling steps backward. An identical symbol glowed briefly on Yugi's forehead, and with a soft, keening cry, he crumpled to the ground. 

Seto's eyes widened as the glow faded. "Yugi?" He knelt beside his unconscious friend, shaking him gently. "Yugi, wake up!"  


	3. Magic and Leather

Magic and Leather

Yugi was confused. It wasn't too bad, the place he was in, altogether. Whatever he was sitting on was soft and cushy, and it was pleasantly warm, and the whole area had a feeling of calm safety. The problem was, he had no idea how he'd gotten there. Hence, the confusion.

"Hello?" he called out, trying to peer through the dark, trying to pick out any sort of shape. "Is anybody here?"

Someone stepped forward, a figure darker than the dark that surrounded him. Yugi blinked, frowning at the person, trying to pick out his face. As the man (more likely a boy, Yugi decided- the figure was hardly taller than he was) approached, Yugi found himself looking at a rather… varied image of himself. There was no mistaking his own signature hairstyle, and the face looked almost the same as his own. But the person standing before Yugi had eyes that were almost fierce… both dangerous, and inexorably enchanting. This person before him was everything Yugi had secretly dreamed of becoming.

"Who are you?" Yugi whispered, too awed to be afraid.

His strange twin smiled, a slice of white in the darkness, reminding Yugi of the way a cat grinned.

"For the moment," he replied, in deep, almost unconsciously seductive tone, "I'm you." He turned away then, disappearing back into the enfolding darkness.

Yugi swallowed, closing his eyes and focusing on remembering every detail of that mysterious person; the eyes flashing almost crimson in the dark, the smile almost taunting. "Oh," he finally whispered into the empty dark. "Well. That's alright then."  

Opening his eyes, he found himself staring at the first ceiling he'd seen in several centuries. It was nothing like the one from his own home, what little he remembered of his own home… or even like that of the dark chamber he'd spent the last five thousand years inhabiting. Tapping casually into the memories of the small one that was now his partner, he realized this must be the infirmary of the high school.

"Yugi?"

Getting used to a living body after being dead for so long wasn't so hard as he'd expected. What a joy the simple act of breathing could be! Sitting up slowly, he blinked at the one who had spoken.

Seto Nishimura was watching his friend with a critical stare. Yes, the features were similar to those of Yugi's, nearly identical in fact. But the way Yugi watched him with such a self-assured, wryly amused gaze, made it seem like he was a whole different person. And what had that whole affair with the glowing puzzle and passing out been about, anyway?

This alleged-Yugi seemed amused by Seto's close scrutiny, returning Seto's inquiring gaze with one of his own. This was the other, the stranger that had helped the small one solve the puzzle. He had been there when the spirit had fused with his new partner. "You saw what happened, didn't you?"

"I saw _something_ happen," Seto replied slowly, his eyes narrowing. The voice was different from Yugi's. Either this was some sort of trick, or this really was a different person. "I'm not quite sure what it was, yet."

The spirit nodded, amused. "What you saw, was the beginning of the fulfillment of a very ancient prophesy."

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" Okay… either Yugi had gone mental or Seto had.

Standing up, the spirit grinned at his companion, daring him to dispute him. "I don't _seem_ like the friend you know, do I? I look like him, but there's just something not right about me, isn't there?"

"If you're not Yugi, then who are you?" Seto demanded. If this was a joke, it wasn't amusing. But Yugi… really _didn't_ seem like Yugi. And also… were Yugi's eyes red now, or was that a trick of the light?

The spirit smiled slightly to himself, thinking back to the time spent trapped within the Puzzle. His name had been lost in that darkness, and so he had taken the darkness' name for his own. "I'm known as Yami."

Seto didn't look terribly impressed, or convinced. "Right. Yami."

"You don't believe me?" Yami looked amused. "But you believe your own eyes. I felt your touch aiding the small one-"

"Yugi," Seto interrupted. "His name is Yugi."

Yami paused, then nodded. "Right. Yugi. I suppose I must get used to that…" He raised an eyebrow at Seto. "So you _do_ believe I am not Yugi?"

"Assuming for the moment that I do believe you're not Yugi," Seto said, "how does it happen that you 'are' Yugi, at the moment? Or… inhabiting his body, or whatever. Are you some sort of ghost?"

"I prefer the term 'spirit'…"

"Whatever. Why are you possessing Yugi?"

"No, demons do the possession thing," Yami commented, enjoying bantering with Seto. "I am merely co-inhabiting this form."

"So Yugi's still in there?" That was something of a relief. As admittedly sexy this spirit happened to be, Seto would prefer to have the innocent Yugi back.

"Yes," Yami said. "And that's why I needed to talk to you. I need to ask you not to tell him about what happened when he finished the Puzzle… or about me. You saw the event, my merger with Yugi, and I feel I can trust you. And you must keep my existence secret."

"Why?"

"For one thing, Yugi is not ready to know about me. He senses me on some subconscious levels, but he'll think of my presence as a dream, or an intuition, and for now that's how it should be. And for another thing, if others knew of me, Yugi would be in grave danger. Do you swear to keep my secret?"

Seto thought about it. If he _were_ the one going crazy, it would probably be better that he didn't tell anyone, anyway. "Alright, on two conditions. The first being, you don't… stay like this unless it's necessary, okay? I want you to go away and let Yugi come back."

Yami nodded; it was an easy enough request to grant, that's how he had planned to do things anyway. "And the second condition?"

"Whatever you did to possess Yugi, or 'co-inhabit' him or whatever… just don't go doing that to _me_."

Yami smirked, walking closer to Seto and noting with faint amusement how short Yugi's body really was compared to others. "Oh? I hadn't thought of such a thing, but now that you mention it, your body _would_ be a far superior choice. Taller, certainly, and more handsome as well…" He reached up and lightly touched Seto's cheek.

Seto's eyes narrowed at such a blatant violation of his personal space, and smacked Yami's hand away. Yami moved away with amusement glittering in his eyes.

"Ah well, you'll be pleased to know that despite your obvious potential, it is only Yugi's body that I will be borrowing from time to time. You are perfectly safe."

"Uh-huh," Seto grumbled. "Strangely enough, I get this feeling that you are in no position to guarantee the safety of anyone. Back to my original question; _why_ have you come to 'borrow' Yugi's body?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

Yami looked slightly perplexed, but the expression was fleeting. "Because I… don't remember."

"You don't _remember_?"

"Do you believe in destiny?"

Seto closed his eyes, picturing the heavy door to an executive office, a golden plaque on the door proclaiming proudly, "Seto Kaiba, CEO." The way things could have, _should_ have been. And some day, the way things would be. "Yes," he finally answered, opening his eyes. "Yes, I do believe in destiny."

Yami nodded in satisfaction. "Then believe me when I tell you I am here because I was destined to be. Perhaps I don't know the specific reason yet, but such is the nature of destined things."

"Well, considering the other strange things I've seen today, I don't see the harm in believing that." Seto shrugged. "Alright, I'll keep your promise. Now give Yugi back."

Yami watched Seto with an unreadable gaze for several moments. "You are Yugi's friend, aren't you?"

"Obviously. From what I can tell, one of the few."

"Would you care to be mine as well? I have a feeling I'll be here for a while, and… I could use an ally that _does_ know of me."

The look on Yami's face was just so… honest, that Seto found himself agreeing. "Alright. I'll do what I can to help… so long as it's not going to be hurting Yugi."

Yami smiled faintly at that. "I assure you, hurting Yugi is nowhere near my intention. Thank you." He closed his eyes, concentrating.

Seto watched, noting the very subtle changes that occurred as Yami left, and Yugi's sweet personality reached the surface. Yugi looked very confused as he opened his bright violet eyes, blinking at Seto. "Seto? What- I… what happened?"

Seto thought about the very strange things that _had_ happened, that he had sworn not to tell Yugi about. So he gave a slightly altered version of events. "You passed out up in the classroom, and were brought here. You've been asleep for a few hours."

"Passed out?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, they think there's some sort of gas leak on that floor or something…" Seto shrugged. "Nothing to worry about, you're alright now."

"Oh…" Yugi shrugged, accepting his friend's explanation. After all, why would Seto lie to him? "Well… d'you want to come over to my house and play Duel Monsters or something?"

"Sure…" Seto frowned, glancing at his watch. "Oh, but I have to go pick up my little brother from school first. Want to come with? You can come over to my house instead, you've got your dueling deck with you…"

Yugi cheerfully agreed, grabbing up his stuff to get ready to go. Seto smiled ruefully, glancing at the Puzzle that Yugi grabbed last. He wondered if the spirit Yami was still around, watching all of this. Life sure would be interesting from now on…  


	4. Blink Three Times part 1

Blink Three Times (part one)  
  
And just as predicted, life did get interesting for Seto Nishimura in the days following the meeting of the spirit currently possessing his friend. He didn't actually see Yami come out all that often, though. It was just that every once in a while, Yugi would go very quiet, and Seto would glance over to find Yugi's bright violet eyes gleaming red instead, as Yami silently regarded him. Yami would just smirk when he noticed Seto return his gaze, and retreat back into the Puzzle or wherever it was he went, just as silently as he had come.   
  
It didn't bother Seto much after a few days, seeing Yami's brief appearances. He supposed that if he were dead and inhabiting the body of an extremely short teenager, he'd at least want a few chances to see the world around him. And though Yami could be annoying, he didn't seem to be hurting anything. So Seto kept his promise, never mentioning the spirit's existence to anyone, not even Yugi.   
  
In fact, Yugi seemed to have brightened up considerably in a very short amount of time, though if this were from Yami's presence or from finally having a friend to share his interests with, Seto didn't know. Nor did he really care, he decided. He was having a good time being friends with Yugi. Often, Yugi would walk with him after school to pick up Mokuba, and then they'd go over to either the Nishimura or Motou residence to play Duel Monsters.   
  
More often they went over to Seto's house, since Yugi had also become fast friends with Mokuba. It always seemed to Seto that both Yugi and Mokuba were so sweet, they could give each other sugar-highs just from being in the same room with each other. Seto was often the one to clean up the chaos the two short hyper boys could create.   
  
After a few days of playing Duel Monsters, both Yugi and Seto were pleased to discover that Seto was actually fairly good at the game. Yugi had helped him build a deck from the card Seto had collected, and Yugi had even donated a few cards that he thought would strengthen the deck. Yugi was still the better player, but Seto's natural skill still often made him work just a bit harder for the win.   
  
So that's what they were doing late one Friday night at Seto's house, playing game after game of Duel Monsters. Seto had lost three duels in a row, and didn't feel the least bit disheartened by it. Sure, sometimes it was frustrating watching Yugi mop the floor with his monsters, but Seto was certain he was getting better with every game they played. He planned on beating Yugi one day, just as a personal challenge. The last game they'd played had been fairly close...   
  
"Again?" Yugi asked softly.   
  
The change in Yugi's voice brought Seto's gaze up fast from where he'd been shuffling his duel deck. In Yugi's place, Yami lounged calmly, absently shuffling Yugi's deck in his hands. It was the first time since he'd met the spirit that Seto had more than a brief glimpse of Yami.   
  
But... the challenge glittering in Yami's crimson eyes practically begged to be answered. Seto smirked, setting his deck back down on the table.  
  
"You want to duel me, Yami?" Seto asked.  
  
"If you would allow me the pleasure of doing so, yes, I would like that," Yami answered smoothly, similarly setting down his dueling deck. "It's been a long time since I played, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I watched you and Yugi duel."   
  
"I didn't know they had collectable cards in Ancient Egypt," Seto commented. "That is where you're from, right? Yugi said that's where the Puzzle came from."   
  
Yami looked thoughtful, then shrugged. "I don't remember. You go first."   
  
And so the duel began. It wasn't quite the same as dueling with Yugi, Seto realized. For one thing, though Yugi was good at this game, Yami seemed to be quite a bit better. And unlike the relaxed, friendly atmosphere of dueling with Yugi, there was definitely a tension in the air when dueling against Yami, like a spark of energy. Seto decided it was just because of the increased challenge that came from dueling a more experienced player.   
  
Or maybe it was Yami's total air of confidence in his skill and his right to be there. Did anyone really have the right to look so sexy doing something as simple as playing a card game?   
  
It was almost a welcome distraction when Mokuba peeked in to see what they were up to. Delighted to find Seto and "Yugi" playing Duel Monsters, Mokuba cheerfully plopped himself down to one side of the table, announcing his intentions of playing the winner.   
  
For some reason, Seto found the game to be a little bit easier after that. After Yami made a few mediocre plays, Seto discovered the reason for it was that Yami was slightly distracted- spending the period between his turns absentmindedly studying Mokuba. Naturally, Mokuba didn't notice Yami's interest, being too intent on studying Seto's plays.   
  
Distracted though he was, Yami still ended up winning. Eagerly, Mokuba usurped Seto's place at the table, placing down his own dueling deck. It was an interesting duel to watch. Seto noted that Yami often tailored his plays to more the level of his opponent, enough to be a challenge, but not enough to outright destroy Mokuba on the first several turns.   
  
Yami still one, but as gently as possible. Mokuba was thrilled with the game despite his loss, and demanded a rematch.  
  
"Not tonight, Mokuba," Seto said, grabbing up Mokuba's deck. "Friday night or not, I'll be grounded for a week if I let you stay up any later."   
  
"Alriiight..." Mokuba muttered reluctantly. He raced for his own room, and Seto followed to return Mokuba's dueling deck to its place, and to say goodnight to his little brother.  
  
"Hey, Seto?" Mokuba asked as he plopped onto his own bed, and Seto reached to turn out the light. "Is it just me, or was Yugi acting... kinda different tonight?"   
  
Seto smirked a little at that, wondering how Yami really expected to be mistaken for Yugi. Even Mokuba could tell the difference between Yugi and Yami. But Seto had promised to keep Yami's secret. "Mmm, I think it's just you. Goodnight, Mokie."  
  
"G'night, Seto."   
  
Seto turned off the light and closed the door, heading back for his own bedroom. Yami was still sitting where he had been, thoughtfully studying some of the cards in Yugi's deck. "Your little brother is a cute kid," Yami murmured absently.  
  
"Yeah, he is," Seto answered, mildly wondering what Yami's interest in Mokuba was all about. But before he could ask, the crimson in Yami's eyes faded into violet, and Yugi smiled up at his friend.  
  
"Up for another duel?" Yugi asked.  
  
There was another unforeseen outcome of Seto and Yugi becoming friends. Since Seto had more or less become Yugi's unofficial protector, the bullies of the school were hard pressed to find someone else to pick on in such short notice. After a few days of the flux this upset of the high school order had caused, apparently it was decided that Yugi's replacements would be none other than Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor.   
  
Seto and Yugi discovered this fact one day as they were coming home from school, and happened to be passing by the very same alleyway where the two of them had met.   
  
"Hey..." Yugi murmured, pausing and peering into the gloom of the alley. "Did you hear something?"   
  
Seto paused to listen as well, hearing a few faint noises of a scuffle. "You know, they really ought to just close off this alleyway."   
  
Yugi shot Seto a glower, sprinting off into the alley to investigate. "Come on!"   
  
The two victims were tossed casually into the wall as Yugi and Seto surprised their attacker. Yugi ran to their rescue, for the moment leaving Seto to deal with the bully. This particular school bully was either the ugliest high school student on the planet, or a 300-pound gorilla squeezed into a high school uniform.   
  
Briefly, Seto wondered if he were somehow doomed to spend the rest of his life saving people from bullies. As he hefted up a garbage can to throw at the bully's head, Seto decided never to mention this incident to Mokuba, who might want to make him a superhero's costume.  
  
The alleyway resounded with the reverberating clang of the garbage can as it connected to the bully's forehead. Seto reached for another garbage can in case he should need it, but as it turned out, he didn't. Momentarily stunned by the blow, the bully apparently decided the odds were no longer in his favor, and turned tail and ran. Oddly amused by the incident, Seto set down his makeshift projectile and watched him go.   
  
Moments later, Yugi took off running after the bully. Seto blinked at him in confusion, until Yugi glanced back at Seto and winked, mischief glittering in his crimson eyes. Whatever Yami had planned for this bully, Seto probably didn't want to know.   
  
Instead, Seto went to inspect the two boys the bully had been picking on. Somewhere under the bruises and blood, he recognized Joey and Tristan.  
  
Seto smirked faintly, offering a hand to help Joey up. "Hey there, little puppy. You lost?"   
  
"Not a puppy," Joey muttered, managing a crooked smile as he grabbed Seto's hand and hauled himself to his feet. Together they managed to drag Tristan up too. "What did ya come to help us for? Thought you didn't like us."   
  
Seto shrugged. "It was Yugi's idea, actually. If it were up to me, I might have just stood back and watched."  
  
Tristan frowned at Seto for a moment, then laughed and shook his head. "No, you wouldn't have."   
  
"Mm, you're right, I probably wouldn't have." Seto smiled at them. "Watching you two get pounded into paste would be so boring." He shrugged, and headed off in the direction Yami had gone. "See you later."   
  
"Hey, wait!" Joey sprinted to catch up with Seto, and Seto paused to see what Joey wanted. "Er... well, whatever your reasons were, thanks anyway man. It was... nice of you."   
  
Seto contemplated Joey's words in silence for a moment, then shrugged, deciding to be magnanimous. "Yugi and I were going over to his grandfather's game store for the afternoon. Want to come?"  
  
"A game store?" Joey glanced back at Tristan for a moment, then shrugged, grinning. "Sure, why not? We ain't got anything better to do..."   
  
Yugi came back down the alley a little bit later, looking confused a bit, but unharmed. He was delighted to hear that Joey and Tristan would be coming with them to the game shop, and chatted merrily about Duel Monsters as the three of them walked along. His enthusiasm for the game was infectious, and he even ended up getting Tristan and Joey interested in playing.   
  
They all did find it odd as they found the ugly gorilla bully from the alleyway in a nearby park they passed. The bully was sitting in a pile of leaves, staring vacantly off into space and drooling slightly. A few people were trying to rouse him, with no success at all.  
  
As Joey and Tristan gawked at the mindless lump that had recently been pounding the crap out of them, Seto glanced at Yugi. Briefly, Yugi's eyes changed to crimson, and Yami looked fairly self-satisfied with his work. Then the smug spirit was gone, replaced with Yugi's sweet innocence. "Come on guys, let's get out of here."   
  
Continuing on their way, Seto amended his previous thought. He did actually kind of want to know what Yami had done to the boy. 


	5. Blink Three Times part 2

Author's Note: For those of you that asked, the last name I have given to Seto and Mokuba- Nishimura- comes from my English 101 teacher. Just to let you know.

_x.x.x_

Blink Three Times (part two)

_x.x.x._

Noa Kaiba was bored. Not just everyday sort of bored either, but 100% pure, industrial strength BORED. What was the point of skipping out on all the lessons his father demanded he attend, when there was absolutely nothing else for him to do?

Noa didn't have any friends. Actually, he had plenty of friends, but he didn't actually like most of them. At least half of them were just "playmates" that his father hired to keep him occupied when he wasn't in lessons- which wasn't very often, anyway. And the rest… most of them just hung around because Noa was rich. Noa liked being rich. But he didn't like any of his friends.

But that wasn't what was bothering him for the moment. At the moment, he was just bored. There never was anything to do in his house, really. And he'd finally gotten tired of staring out the window and gloating about how he was richer than everyone else in the city. Maybe it was time for him to actually go out and do something?

While that thought brought up at least a mild interest, it was quashed almost immediately. What was he supposed to do out in the city anyways? Huffing in annoyance, Noa turned away from the window, his gaze drifting over the items in his room. He'd gathered a million things in this room over the years, hoping for entertainment value from each of them, but quickly growing tired of each and every item. He had a lot of games in his room, but they were no good without friends to play them with. All of the hired playmates had strict instructions to always let Noa win. Noa liked winning about as much as he liked to be rich, but winning soon became tiresome when he knew his opponent was losing on purpose. Noa wanted to really _beat_ someone, sometime.

His gaze lingered on one of his newest acquisitions, a stack of collectable cards for a game called Duel Monsters. When he'd first found out about the game, he'd gone on the internet and quickly purchased every rare and powerful card he could find. Soon he'd built a deck that would most certainly guarantee him victory every time he played. He'd even gotten three out of the four rarest cards, the famed Blue Eyes White Dragons. He was very proud of them. He'd never found the fourth one, but that one hardly mattered anyway. Surely one Blue Eyes White Dragon was no match for three.

But again, what was the point? Powerful deck or no, there was no one to duel with. And that just led back to his current predicament, the never-ending boredom. On the other hand…

Smiling faintly, Noa picked up his card deck. He had heard about places in town where kids could bring their Duel Monsters decks and play against each other. That would be a lot of fun! He could probably make the entire room envious of his most marvelous deck. Yes, that would be a lot more fun than hanging around in his room. Pocketing his deck, he left his room to get a ride into town.

_x.x.x_

"So this is one of those dueling rooms?" Joey asked, peering around at all the children sitting at long tables. "Kinda dull, don't you think?"

Yugi shook his head, grinning brightly. "It really isn't all that bad, it's actually kind of fun to watch a duel, but more fun to be dueling yourself. This here is the beginner's area."

"Beginner's area?" Joey demanded. "C'mon Yuug, we're all better than _that_."

"Yugi is, certainly," Seto commented, very faintly smirking, "but have you _ever_ won a duel, puppy?"

Shortly after the rescue in the alleyway, Tristan and Joey had become a part of Yugi's growing circle of friend's. Whenever they could, they'd find a place to gather together and play Duel Monsters, which Joey had gotten hooked on, just as Seto had. Tristan didn't have quite as much interest in the game, and so he hadn't come to visit the dueling room with Yugi, Joey and Seto that weekend.  

Joey mock-glared at Seto, though by now he was rather used to the teasing nickname Seto had given him. "I told you never to call me that!"

"Yeah, but you didn't mean it," Seto murmured in a lofty tone. "And I see you're not bothering to dispute your failings as a duelist." Despite the cold words, there was no malice in them, and Joey and Seto bickered thusly so often, neither of them bothered to take offense any longer. "Come on, let's find a table."  

Which was easier said than done. This was a very popular place for both amateur and experienced duelist to gather, and most all of the tables were full. Yugi was pretty disappointed to see they might not find any place to sit and play.

"Oh well," Yugi finally sighed. "Maybe we could come back later in the week when it's not so crowded…" He looked over to Seto to see if he would agree about leaving, only to find that Seto was not listening. He was frowning over at someone in the advanced duelist's area.

"What's he doing here?" Seto muttered, mostly to himself.

Joey followed Seto's gaze, blinking over at the boy with aquamarine hair, who was currently laughing gleefully over the defeat of his opponent. "Heyy… don't I know that kid from somewhere?"

"You should, since he's the son of the richest man in this city," Seto muttered. "That's Noa Kaiba. The little spoiled brat."

Yugi blinked up at Seto. "You don't like him much, I take it."

Seto sighed and shrugged. "Well, no, I don't care much for him, but it's more his father I can't stand. I ever tell you I was almost adopted by Gozaburo Kaiba?"

Joey scoffed. "You were not."

"No, seriously, I almost was. He came to the orphanage my brother and I were at, and I challenged him to a chess game. If I won, he was supposed to adopt Mokuba and I. But I think he cheated, and I lost. Couldn't ever prove it, though."

"Wow…" Joey murmured. "You coulda been _rich_!"

"Hey, I still will be, someday," Seto said proudly. "Losing that chess match only delayed the inevitable."

"Ha!" Noa crowed over at his dueling table, as he defeated another opponent, quicker this time than the last. "That was pathetic! Go away, you loser. Isn't there _anybody_ here who will prove to be a challenge?"

Noa looked around for another opponent, but after Noa's scathing defeat of the previous duelists, none were interested in getting beaten by him. Noa frowned, though it came out as more of a pout.

"Oh, come on. Surely someone here is brave enough to face me?" Still, no one stepped foreward. Noa glowered, then brightened as he hit upon a brilliant idea. "I'll give all _three_ of my Blue Eyes White Dragons to anyone that can defeat me in a duel."

Yugi brightened, looking up at Seto. "You ought to take him up on the challenge."

Seto blinked down at him. "What? No way, why don't you play him? You're a lot better than I am." _Especially if Yami shows up,_ he added silently.

"But I already have a Blue Eyes White Dragon, and didn't you say you'd always wanted one?" Yugi asked. "If you win, you can have _three_. I know you'll beat him."

"And besides," Joey added with a smirk, "wouldn't it be fun to defeat a Kaiba?"

Seto blinked at Joey, then grinned. "You know, you're right." Pulling out his dueling deck from his pocket, Seto made his way over to the table Noa was at. He set the card down on the table, looking down at Noa for a long moment before he sat to face him. "I accept your challenge."

Noa smirked, shuffling his own deck. "Alright then. Let's duel."

The duel with Noa was both easier and more difficult than any of the duels with Yugi or Joey. Noa played without any sense of strategy, simply playing each card as it came to his hand, the moves all haphazard. It was as if he'd hardly played the game before in his life. What made it difficult was that _every_ card he played seemed to be rare and powerful. It was through sheer brute force that Noa had defeated his previous opponents.

Discovering this, it wasn't too hard for Seto to devise a counter-attack. A single magic card to destroy all high-powered monsters Noa had, and the duel was over.

And it was almost worth it to see the gape-mouthed look of utter disbelief on Noa's face when Seto won. But Seto had won another prize, and intended to collect.

He held out his hand, palm up in demanding his payment. "My Blue Eyes White Dragons, please."

Noa stared up at him, in amazement bordering on awe. "Who are you?"

"Seto Nishimura," Seto answered. "Will you hand them over or not?"

Noa finally seemed to snap back to reality, almost mechanically sorting through his deck to retrieve the three dragons he had promised the victor. Seto took them, marveling over the cards he'd wanted for so long, now all his by what was almost pure chance. With a finally grin at his prize, he slipped the cards into his dueling deck, and made a mocking bow to Noa.

"See you later, Kaiba," Seto murmured, then rejoined his friends, who were both laughing and congratulating him on his victory.

_x.x.x_

That night, Noa Kaiba lay awake in bed long into the night. He couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Seto Nishimura's icy blue gaze, the condescending smirk. Seto was… was…

…_beautiful._

Noa couldn't stand it. Seto was incredible! How could anyone duel so flawlessly, so confidently? How could anyone that special even be human? No, no, certainly Seto was something more than that, something special.

Staring up at the shadows in the ceiling, Noa smiled to himself. Sure, Seto was something special. But now that Noa knew of him, one day, Seto Nishimura would be _his_.


	6. Intermission

Author's Note: Some of you may be familiar with a previous story I wrote entitled "White Reflection," the romance between the Dark Magician and the Blue Eyes White Dragon. This fic, however, is a "what if" story, and so the relationships of these Duel Monsters is in no way related to those portrayed in "White Reflection."

Oh, and though this chapter seems like a side story, it does actually tie into the main plot.

_x.x.x_

Intermission

_x.x.x_

A beautiful girl stood by a mirror in the Shadow Realm, intently studying the scene glistening on its reflective surface. She had a hand pressed to her mouth, trying in vain to stifle the giggles that threatened to emerge. For the scene before her was not her own reflection, but that of the human world, the world she and other duel monsters like her guarded from their shadowy realm.

A gentle breeze blew past, ruffling her snow white hair. Impatiently, she brushed it back, and yet it persisted in blowing free of her grasp, long strands of hair floating forward to tickle her face and shoulders. But she smiled slightly as two warm hands joined her own in pulling back her long hair, and she felt those same gentle hands she'd come to love quickly braiding her wayward hair into a tight plait.

"I don't know how you stand to keep your hair so long, Hansha," she murmured, turning slightly to look over her shoulder at her husband.

Hansha grinned back at her, the Dark Magician's long purple hair blowing free, and not seeming to bother him in the least. She supposed he probably used a touch of his magic to keep it out of his way. Who cared about dark magic attacks; using magic for simple things like hair care would be much more practical.

"You could always cut your hair if you wished, Midori," Hansha answered, as he usually did, tapping her on the nose.

"Oh, right," Midori huffed. "And then what would people think? I'd look more like a boy than you! I refuse to be married to someone that's girlier than I am."

"I assure you, there's no need to fear that," the Dark Magician assured her. "So, what is it you were so amused over a minute ago?"

"Oh, that." Midori suppressed another giggle, turning back to the mirror, gesturing to human boys pictured there. "Just Seto. He won the Blue Eyes White Dragon cards today, you know? From that silly little boy, Noa. The duel lasted less than four minutes, I swear."

"Noa's not such a little boy," Hansha murmured. "He's as old as Seto is."

"But he still _acts_ like a little child," Midori muttered. "I'd sure hate to be his Guardian. Must have his hands full." Midori smiled fondly at the image of Seto in the mirror, watching him as he walked home with his friends. She was very proud of him.

It seemed very fitting that Seto had three Blue Eyes White Dragon cards in his deck, since he had three of the same dragons as his guardians. Midori was his first guardian, though she was the youngest of the four Blue Eyes siblings. The two eldest brothers, twin Blue Eyes by the names of Gin and Kin, had also been chosen to be guardians for Seto.

Midori's husband Hansha, however, was one of eight Guardians that protected the spirit of an ancient king, Yami, once Pharaoh of Egypt, and still the King of Games. Also among the ranks of Yami's Guardians was the youngest of Midori's brothers, Shiroi.

She sighed as her thoughts turned to that brother. Shiroi was a nice guy, certainly, and Midori had always been fond of him, no matter how many times she beat him up. The problem was… Shiroi was in love, and had been for centuries now. And this wouldn't have been a problem, if the object of his affections didn't also happen to be Midori's husband.

Midori glanced at Hansha again, all the amusement in her expression gone. Hansha didn't know that Shiroi loved him. Midori had made her brother swear not to tell him. She hated to do that to Shiroi, but… damn it, Hansha was hers!

Hansha caught her looking at him so seriously, and he frowned slightly. "Something the matter? Are you feeling ill?"

"No… no." Midori forced a bright smile. "I'm alright, it's just…"

A shuddering _thud_ from the doorway interrupted her, and she and Hansha turned slightly to see what caused it. The massive form of Exodia stood just inside the entryway, looking slightly uneasy, probably thinking he had interrupted something.

"It's alright, Exodia," Midori quickly assured him. "You can come in. Did you need to use the mirror? I was just finishing up here."

Exodia too was one of Yami's many Guardians, and he often came to use the Shadow Realm mirror to watch over the Pharaoh. Midori had to admire his dedication to his work; of all the Guardians in that area, Exodia always seemed to be the most diligent. He was always so busy, that was probably why he had very little time for friends.

Or perhaps it was because he had no friends that he always kept so busy…

Exodia nodded slightly as he stepped into the room. He really liked the Blue Eyes White Dragon girl. It was just Hansha that made the giant uneasy. After all, Shiroi adored Hansha, and Exodia… well, he adored Shiroi.

"I think we ought to go for a walk," Midori was murmuring to her husband. "I feel a sudden urge to move about."

Hansha smiled at her, taking her hands and helping her to her feet. "You're sure it's your urge, and not the baby's?" Grinning in the way that proud parents do, Hansha gently rested a hand over the heavy curve of his wife's pregnant belly.

"It matters not whose idea it was," Midori murmured loftily. She waved up at Exodia as she took careful steps toward the exit. "We'll see you later, alright Exodia?"

Exodia nodded solemnly as he watched the two leave, before crouching down before the mirror. Midori had dismissed the image of the human world, and for the moment the mirror was just that, reflecting Exodia's own face back at him. With a great sigh, he looked away from his reflection as he called up the magic in the mirror to show him the realm of the humans.

_x.x.x_

Shiroi leaned against the balcony railing, staring down into the garden below where his sister and her husband took their slow stroll. He loved his sister, most assuredly, but sometimes he couldn't help resenting that. If he didn't care so much for Midori, it would be such an easy thing to steal Hansha away from her. After all, everyone knew that of the four Blue Eyes White Dragons, Shiroi was the most irresistible. No, he could find no flaws with his own charms. It was just that… Midori had claimed the prize first.

And sometimes, Shiroi wished he could hate her.

He's melancholy reverie was momentarily disturbed by a small creature tugging on his pants leg, demanding Shiroi's attention. Shiroi looked down at the tiny thing, a little boy no older than three, his hair and eyes a matching color of pale gold. This toddler, named The Winged Dragon of Ra at his birth, but known as Ra for short, peered intently up at his uncle's face before pointing imperiously up at him and announcing,

_"Parp!"_

Shiroi blinked at the child, who seemed immensely proud at his baby-nonsense word. Then Shiroi laughed softly, picking the child up and hugging him gently. Little Ra giggled and tugged at Shiroi's hair.

"Well now, how'd you get in here, anyway?" Shiroi softly demanded. "I thought your brother was supposed to be watching you."

As if mention of him had called up his very presence, 13-year-old Slyfer the Sky Dragon came tearing into the room, his intensely red wild hair even more mussed than usual. He skidded to a halt even as he groaned a sigh of relief at spotting his little brother.

"Gods damn you, squirt," Slyfer muttered as he took his squirming brother from Shiroi. "One of these days you'll have to teach me how you can just up and disappear like that."

"He disappears like that because you always manage to get distracted while you're watching him," Shiroi told the boy. "So what was it this time? Girls, mortals, or video games?"

Slyfer grinned up at his uncle sheepishly. "Uhhh… what if I told you I was saving a flock of helpless kuriboh from a rampaging Red Eyes Black Dragon?"

"I'd say you were full of shit, and then I'd probably have to tattle to your mother about you lying to me."

Slyfer glowered up at him. "Oh yeah? Then I'd just have to tell her you were cussing around all her precious children again. Hey, where is Mom, anyway?"

Shiroi absently gestured down to the garden below, where Midori had sat down on the grass to pick flowers and playfully braid them into Hansha's hair. Slyfer watched them for a moment, then made a gagging noise and turned away from the scene.

"Yuck," Slyfer muttered. "I swear, everyone in the world that falls in love goes all wonky."

"You don't know the half of it," Shiroi muttered, casting a last glance down at Hansha, before striding toward the door purposefully. "I'm gonna go find my brothers. You keep a close watch on Ra, understand?"

"Yeah yeah, I know…" Slyfer muttered, grumbling and poking his brother's nose. The last thing Shiroi heard was a loud yelp as Ra bit Slyfer's finger.


	7. Living With Ghosts

Living With Ghosts

_x.x.x_

Seto stubbornly refused to look behind him, not even the littlest peek. Suppressing a growl of irritation, he muttered to the boy walking beside him, "Is he still back there?"

Yugi looked back over his shoulder for at least the umpteenth time that day. Noa Kaiba spotted Yugi looking back at him, and hurried to look like he only coincidentally happened to be following them, studying the ground very intently.

Yugi sighed, facing forward again and murmuring, "Yep. Still back there."

"Damn it." Seto scowled. "He's been following us all day. What the hell does he want?"

"Maybe he wants his cards back?" Mokuba piped up from the other side of Seto. "They are rare cards, really nice condition too. Must have cost him a lot of money."

"Well, he can't have them. I won those cards fairly, and they're mine now," Seto said.  "He should just buy small country to entertain himself with, and quit tagging along behind us like some dog. We've already got Joey, we don't need another canine…"

"That's really not a nice thing to call Joey," Yugi said, even though he told that to Seto on average of five times a day.

Seto brightened a little for the first time since Noa started following them. "I know, but he'd make such a cute little puppy, wouldn't he?"

"Like a golden retriever!" Mokuba added, giggling at the image. "All golden fur, with brown puppy-dog eyes…"

They stopped outside of Joey's house, just as Joey opened the door and announced, "I heard that." He gestured for them to wait a moment, leaning against the doorframe as he finished up the phone conversation he was having. "Mmm-hmm… yeah, I miss you too, Serenity. Look, I gotta go, but I'll call back tonight, okay?… Yeah. Bye." Not bothering to return the phone to its proper place, Joey just chucked it back inside, and casually ducked the sneaker that was thrown back at him in return. Slamming the door before his father could throw any more junk at him, Joey kicked the shoe off the stairs as he joined his little group of friends.

"Hey guys," Joey murmured, his usually cheerful attitude lacking a little bit. "Sorry to make you wait, I was on the phone with my sister and sort of lost track of time…"

"Something wrong with Serenity?" Yugi asked, frowning at his friend's uncharacteristic quietness.

Joey shrugged as they all started walking. "Well, we're not sure, really. She's never had real great eyesight, but it seems to be getting worse, you know? Like, too bad to be corrected with glasses. She may need this big expensive operation to fix it, and sure as hell nobody in _my_ family can afford it." He glanced at Seto. "Kinda wish you had been adopted by the Kaibas, then you could loan me a few million dollars."

Seto shrugged, and gestured behind them. "You want to talk to a Kaiba, there's one following us right now."

Joey blinked, glancing back at the Noa walking behind them at a distance. Frowning, he looked back at Seto. "Why is Noa Kaiba following us?"

"We don't know," Yugi said. "But he's been back there ever since we left Grandpa's store. Every time we look back, he pretends he doesn't see us. I think he wants to get the Blue Eyes White Dragon cards back from Seto."

"Ohh…" Joey grinned, a little of his usual cheerfulness coming back as he looked back to Seto. "Want me to pound him for you?"

Seto shook his head. "If it ever comes to that, I'll probably just do it myself. But thanks for the offer."

"Well, maybe we can lose him," Mokuba suggested. "Burger World is just a few blocks up, we could just run for it."

"Worth a try," Yugi murmured. "On three, okay? One… two…"

Noa blinked in surprise as the people he was tagging along behind suddenly up and started running. Abandoning what little pretense of being casual that he had, he quickly gave chase after the four, even as he cursed himself for his total lack of tact. His father would yell at him until his face turned purple if he knew what a pathetic fool his son was making of himself, but Noa couldn't seem to help it. He'd had the awful urge to see what Seto was doing today- hell, just to _see_ Seto. Surely there were better ways of doing this, but…

…well, none of that mattered now. What mattered now was _catching up to Seto!_

"I think we lost him!" Yugi panted softly as they all but burst in through the doors of Burger World.

"Hey guys…" Téa Gardner, one of Yugi's friends who sometimes spent time with the whole group, happened to work at Burger World, making the fast food restaurant a convenient place for them all to hang out. Téa blinked at the four of them panting to catch their breath. "What's chasing you all?"

"Never mind, let's just hope it didn't follow us," Seto muttered.

Téa shrugged. "You want the usual table?"

"Maybe something a little further away from the window today," Yugi said, grinning at her. "If it's not too much trouble."

"None at all," Téa laughed, "I get paid either way."

She led them to a table to one side of the restaurant. Just as they were all sitting down, Noa came in through the front door, glancing around wildly, clearly searching for someone.

"Oh no…" Seto groaned. He grabbed Téa's arm before she could move off to greet the new customer. "Téa. Whatever you do, do _not_ sit him near us."

Téa blinked at him, then smiled sweetly. "Oh? How much are you going to tip me?"

He glowered at her. Téa laughed, patting his shoulder and slipping her arm from his grip. "Don't worry," she murmured softly. "I'll take care of it."

Téa smoothed her skirt, then called out to Noa in a bright voice as she approached. "Why _hello_ there! Please allow me to show you to your seat, sir!" Grabbing a hold of Noa's arm firmly, she all but dragged him toward the opposite side of the restaurant, ignoring every one of his flustered protests.

Everyone at Yugi's table was hard-pressed to stifle their laughter. "Maybe we should give her more of a tip than usual," Seto murmured with amusement. "It would be worth it to have seen her haul him across the room like that."

"Yeah, now we can finally eat in peace," Joey said. "Good thing too, 'cuz I'm starving!"

_x.x.x_

The normally empty and pristine dining room of Maximillion Pegasus was currently filled with so many boxes, it was impossible to move from one end to the other without tripping on a few. Pegasus was really tired of it all. He would be really relieved once all of those packages had been mailed out.

The boxes were a part of his most recent brilliant scheme, though recently he was beginning to doubt it had been all that brilliant after all. He was planning a giant Duel Monsters tournament, to take place on his very own private island. (Sometimes he wondered if wanting his own private island somehow put him in the category of supervillain.) Pegasus was inviting the very best duelists from all across the world to participate in his tournament, but that was all mostly for show. There was only one person that it was critical for them to attend. Yugi Motou would be receiving a slightly different package than all of the others, to _assure_ that he would show up. Or rather, that the spirit inhabiting the Millennium Puzzle would show up.

Pegasus sighed, kicking away a few boxes so he could pull out a chair from the table and sit down. Lightly he traced his fingertips over the golden design of his Millennium Eye. All of this pomp and ceremony, just to get one small boy to attend. All on the hope that he could defeat that small boy in a duel and win the coveted Millennium Puzzle. All of this… just for _her_.

He looked up at the portrait, one of his favorites of all the paintings he'd done, the picture of his beloved wife. This whole silly tournament was for her, just so Pegasus could hopefully get a hold of a magic so ancient and powerful, he could actually bring her back into his life.

He hoped if and when he finally could bring her back, she wouldn't hate him for the methods he used to obtain that power.

It was cruel, what he was planning to do, manipulating children like this. It sickened him if he thought about it to long. He didn't want to _hurt_ anybody… he just wanted his beloved back. That was where the tournament idea had come from… maybe despite what underhanded tactics were used to bring the duelists to his island, perhaps they could all still have a little fun…

"Mr. Pegasus?"

Pegasus looked up as one of his servants stumbled into the room, carefully trying to avoid all the piles of boxes. "We've got the mailing list here. There are a few names you haven't approved yet for the guest list…"

"Let me see…" Pegasus took the list, scanning down it. There were a few names he only vaguely recognized… Seto Nishimura, Joey Wheeler, Duke Devlin, Ryou Bakura, and a handful of others. But he was tired of all this, and didn't feel like taking the time to investigate all of them. After all, only Yugi Motou mattered when it came right down to it. "Sure, whatever, add them to the mailing list and send out all these packages as soon as possible."

His servant nodded and quickly excused himself. Pegasus sat back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over the piles of boxes once more.

"Well, that's it then," Pegasus murmured. "Let the games begin."


	8. Cheating Love

Cheating Love

_x.x.x_

Seto chewed on the end of his pencil, carefully studying the detail he'd drawn on the large sheet of paper spread out on his desk. He measured it again carefully, then scribbled out the corresponding calculations on his notebook. It was almost effortless, the way his plans came together. He could picture the prototype perfectly in his head.

What he was so carefully drawing was his design for a contest, a contest sponsored by the famous creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus. Seto had heard about the contest on an inventors' message board that he visited frequently online. Mr. Pegasus had asked that all the smartest designers, inventors and technicians try to design him a sort of dueling arena, to be built and featured for some great tournament that was to be held on Pegasus' private island. Seto had been inspired as soon as he'd read that, already envisioning an interactive arena, with holograms of the duel monsters that appeared to really attack.

The contest had an incredible cash prize, but that was only half the temptation of entering. Whoever created the winning design would be famous, recognized as the genius they were.

And wouldn't _that_ piss Gozaburo Kaiba off!

Seto snickered as he made the last corrections to his code. Sure, he wouldn't know if it worked until it was actually built, but it looked really good on paper. When Pegasus recognized the magnitude of Seto's proposed design, it was almost guaranteed that he would win.

"Seto!" his mother called up at him from the bottom of the staircase. "Are you up there?"

Seto leaned back in his chair, pulling his door open wider so he could call back down to her. "Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"

"One of your friends is here!"

Seto glanced at the clock. Yugi usually came over on Saturdays, but it was still rather early for him to be over. Usually Yugi and Joey spent the mornings at Yugi's house before coming to visit. Well, maybe the Saturday cartoons were all reruns or something.

"He can come on up!" Seto called back down to her. He left the door open, returning his attention to his contest entry for a few last corrections.

"Seto Nishimura?"

Seto's pencil snapped in half in his hand, as Seto twisted around to stare at his visitor. Noa Kaiba had such a hopeful look in his eyes as he watched Seto, almost adoringly, entreatingly. Seto had a sudden urge to be rather violently ill.  

"What the hell do you want?" Seto demanded, tossing the remains of his pencil in the trash.

"I just… wanted to talk to you…" Noa murmured. Except he couldn't seem to find anything more to say, shrugging helplessly.

"Look," Seto growled, scooping his duel monster's deck off the table. "You shouldn't have made such a stupid challenge when you hardly even know the rules of the game. But you _did_ make the challenge, and I'm not giving back the Blue Eyes White Dragons."

"This isn't about the stupid cards!" Noa blurted. "You can keep them. They're yours."

Seto blinked, slowly setting his cards back down. "If this isn't about the cards, then why have you been following my friends and I all around town?"

"Because…" Noa whispered, glancing away, down at the desk, at his feet, anywhere but at Seto. "Because, I… um…"

Seto watched Noa stutter for a few moments, then gave up trying to get an explanation out of him. "You know what, I don't even care why. Just stop it. Get out of my house, go back to your fancy little mansion and your servants and your perfect little rich boy life, and stay out of my way."

"But I-!"

"Hey, Seto?" Yugi pushed open the door, blinking at Noa, and then at Seto. "Er, hey… what's Noa doing here?"

"He's just leaving," Seto stated with a cold look at Noa.

"Right…" Noa whispered, looking down at the ground. "Just leaving."

Yugi shrugged, moving past him and going to dump his backpack in the corner. Seto watched Noa a minute more with a mixed look of disgust and pity, then turned away as well, silently dismissing Noa from his life.

_Some day,_ Noa vowed silently as he left. _Some day you won't even dare to turn your back on me, Seto Nishimura. You'll see._

The morning sun was almost cold as Noa stepped back outside, blinking up at the muted gray-blue sky. Why shouldn't Seto see him as some spoiled little rich brat? That's how _everyone_ saw him, even his father. But that would change too.

Noa grinned at the handful of drawings and calculations he'd snatched off Seto's desk as he'd left. With these, he knew he could change the way the whole world looked at him.

_x.x.x_

In the Shadow Realm, the Dark Magician Hansha had called a meeting of all eight of the Guardians assigned to protect the Pharaoh Yami. It was rare that all eight of the guardians came together, and all of them took up almost every square inch of the meeting hall. Hansha studied each of the Guardians in turn, trying to hold back the moment when he stated his reason for calling the meeting.

His gaze rested briefly on Shiroi, the Blue Eyes White Dragon, brother to Hansha's wife Midori. Shiroi had always been a puzzle to Hansha. The two boys had grown up together, and had always been close friends. But after Hansha had married Midori, Shiroi had distanced himself, almost avoiding Hansha, but always seeming to be there in some dark corner, watching him with that enigmatic expression.

But Hansha didn't have the time or the energy to puzzle out the hidden meanings in Shiroi's eyes. He cleared his throat gently, then began to address the group. "It has come to my attention, from a very reliable source, that there is a… darkness, looming in the future of the one we protect."

Silence met his statement. Then Shiroi spoke, almost hesitantly, briefly looking up at Hansha but for some reason not meeting his gaze. "The same darkness that threatened Yami in the past?"

"It is thought so," Hansha murmured. "In part. But there is more than that. It is believed that… many of the Millennium Items shall soon be in the same place. And the darkness is coming for them. I don't need to tell any of you what will happen if evil forces manage to gather so many of the Items."

A soft murmur rose among the other seven of Yami's Guardians, but in the end all eyes turned back to Hansha. He was the unofficial leader, the great magic user, and surely he knew what to do.

But Hansha didn't know what to do. He had an idea, but he wasn't sure if it would work, or if it would work in time. But they were the Guardians, their job was to protect Yami at all costs.

"I have a plan," Hansha murmured hesitantly. "We must awaken Yami's memories of his past. It may be difficult, for his has locked them away so tightly, even he doesn't know the way to get them back. But if he remembers the darkness of his past, he may be better prepared to confront the darkness of his future. If we all agree…?"

Exodia stood first, a giant among all of them, extending his hand out to Hansha. A fine golden light glowed around his bulky fingers. Silently Exodia pledged his aid, and his power, to the cause. Shiroi stood after him, his body shifting into the magnificent dragon form, glowing a pale blue as he similarly offered all he had to give. Each Guardian stood in turn, offering their power, until the very walls thrummed with their collected energies.

"Yes," Hansha murmured, feeling the power spill over him, like liquid light over his skin, filling him and submitting to him. He would be the focus of the casting, the only one who could tie together so much magic and focus it. Or perhaps he was just the only one who would try. Straining under the pressure of such power, he glanced briefly at Exodia. Exodia quickly looked away.

"Ready then?" Hansha asked them. The pulse of their energies was answer enough.

Hansha let the power reach through him, through the shadows and into the realm of the light, into the mind of a small boy where a great spirit lay sleeping, into the twisted labyrinth of that spirit's mind, calling up all the buried memories.

"Awaken…" Hansha pleaded, feeling himself stretched thin, reaching so far into the Pharaoh's spirit. Images flew at him, and dark things flew at him. Hansha could feel Yami unconsciously trying to push out his intrusion. Even with all the power supporting him, Hansha only managed to dredge up a few of Yami's hidden memories, before the connection broke suddenly.

Hansha came flying back to himself in a rush, blinking in the room where the light of power still clung to each of his companions. The light was too bright for him, all of a sudden.

"That's… all… I can… do…" Hansha managed to stutter, before crumpling to the ground. Shiroi was the first to rush to his side.

Exodia watched the Blue Eyes White Dragon frantically trying to revive Hansha, and Exodia turned away, slipping from the room with a silence that belied his size.


	9. Lighting a Torch

Lighting a Torch

_x.x.x_

A confusing jumble of images- visions, or memories?- surfaced within Yami's mind, each slipping playfully away from him whenever he tried to get a good look at them. It was like standing in the center of a whirlwind, trying to catch grains of sand as they spun into nothingness. The darkness of his soul room had never been disturbed like this; Yami knew these thoughts were important, if he could only _hold on to them long enough to tell…_

Exhausted and frustrated from chasing these glittering motes of memory, Yami crouched on the floor of his soul room, clenching his eyes closed. And then… _something_ came into focus. Or several somethings, flashes of memory that passed through him briefly, slowing down just enough that he could catch a glimpse of them. Teasing him. An ancient place, looking new and golden. Pyramids that scraped the sky, catching the light of the sun and scattering it all across the sandy desert. White dragons that descended from the heart of the sky god, carrying a single rider- three dragons, but four pairs of eyes, so blue and perfect Yami could have condemned his soul into their depths for eternity…

Yami awoke with a sudden jolt, his eyes adjusting to the dark of Yugi's bedroom. In the back of his mind, he could feel the soft weight of Yugi still asleep, perhaps dreaming of something more fantastic than blue eyes and Egyptian sunlight. Although Yami doubted there was anything more fantastic than that…

Blue eyes… Yami only knew of one person with true blue eyes like that. And though Yami could not recall the face from the darting vision-memories, he was almost certain it was him. Now the question was… could this wait until morning?

Yami lay back down, staring up at the ceiling for a moment, before closing his eyes. Second later, he opened his eyes again, leapt off the bed, and ran for the door.

No, this _couldn't_ wait until morning!

_x.x.x_

Seto Nishimura was having a familiar dream, one he happened to like very much. A dream of bringing the whole family of Kaibas to their knees before him, and taking over everything they held dear. In his dream, he would find himself in the highest office of the Kaiba building, the hugest skyscraper in town, looking down at the city below that was suddenly all his. And then, each of the buildings below would shimmer, one by one changing into far older architecture. The light of the sun intensified, as a sprawling Egyptian empire sprawled out before him, pyramids rising up in the distance where the mountains once were. And all of it, the modern world, or the ancient world, all of it was his…

He hardly had any time to bask in the glory of his dream, however, because someone was murmuring his name. Someone calling him awake. Seto scowled, waking from his dream reluctantly, and opening his eyes.

Only to find a pair of eyes staring intensely down at him.

Seto let out a startled cry, shoving the intruder away from him before he realized who it was. "Yugi?" No, the eyes had been red, even in the darkness he could tell that. "Yami! What are you doing here?" He frowned at Yami, who hadn't even had the decency to go sprawling when Seto pushed him. Seto glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "It's two in the morning!"

"I know you…" Yami whispered, still watching Seto.

"Of _course_ you know me, we did the introductions weeks ago," Seto muttered. He muffled a soft laugh when he realized Yami was still wearing Yugi's pajamas- light blue flannel with brightly colored chibi duel monsters depicted all over it. "Somehow, those suit Yugi better than you."

Yami blinked down at the pajamas, but didn't seem to find their silliness to be pressingly important.

"How did you even get up here?" Seto asked, finding himself to be rather disturbed by the intensity of Yami's gaze. Noa Kaiba looked at Seto that way too. Gods, was _everyone_ going to start looking at him funny? If Joey Wheeler looked at him like that next, Seto was so going to move out of the country…

"I climbed up the drainpipe," Yami finally answered softly.

"Uh-huh. I can just see you doing that, too," Seto muttered. This entire thing was _absurd_… "Look, it's too early to be playing duel monsters… try coming back when the sun is up, alright?"

Yami shook his head. "I had a dream about you."

"You WHAT?"

"A dream," Yami repeated. "Or a vision. Or a memory, I guess. It was all very confusing. But you were in it. You have blue eyes."

Seto raised an eyebrow, reaching to turn on the lamp on his bedside table. "A lot of people have blue eyes."

"Name one."

Seto let out a soft huff. "My brother, for one. Is that the only reason you came here? Because you had a dream?"

Well if he was going to put it _that_ way, it did sound pretty silly. Yami frowned at him, but wasn't entirely convinced. Maybe for mortals, dreams weren't all that significant, but Yami was _dead_. Shouldn't all of his dreams have special meaning or something?

"It was more than that," Yami insisted. "It was memories. About my past. And you were there."

"Yami, I was not in your past," Seto said. "You're talking about hundreds of years ago, aren't you? That is impossible."

_You're trying to lecture a ghost on what's impossible?_ Yami thought, but decided that was getting too off topic. "You were there. And you were… important to me. I could tell that much."

"Yeah, well take a number. I've already got a stalker, you'll have to wait your turn." At Yami's irritated look, Seto sighed. "Look, if this is really important to you, could we please talk about it later? It's late and I'm tired, and I doubt that's conducive to a productive conversation."

Yami looked like he was considering arguing, then gave up on it. "Alright. I will talk to you later."

"Great. And take the _door_ out this time, you might fall off that drainpipe and die," Seto told him.

That did manage to get Yami to smile. "_I_ would not die."

"Fine, but Yugi _might_, and I thought you were supposed to be protecting him or something."

"Your concern is touching," Yami murmured. He lightly brushed his fingertips over Seto's cheek, then turned and left the room without even a proper farewell. The light from under Seto's door went out a few moments later.

"Yugi?"

Yami froze at the soft voice, turning away from the staircase to blink at the speaker. Mokuba watched him from down the hallway. This was going to take some interesting explaining…

But Mokuba hardly gave him a chance to even think of an excuse. "You're not really Yugi, are you?"

Yami blinked at him. "What?"

"You look like Yugi, but you don't really act like him…" Mokuba said. "Seto keeps telling me that you're Yugi, but… you're not. Are you?"

Surely there were plenty of ways to counter that logic, but Yami couldn't think of a single one. Nor, he found, did he really want to. "No," he finally said. "I'm not Yugi."

Mokuba nodded wisely, having expected as much. "Who are you?"

"My name is Yami," he said. "I guess. I mean… I don't really remember a lot about who I am."

"What were you doing in my brother's room?" Mokuba asked, frowning at Yami, giving him a sort of this-had-_better_-be-good look.

Yami looked back down the hall to Seto's closed door, then shrugged. "I needed to talk to him about something."

"This early?"

"Yes," Yami said. "This early."

Mokuba watched him shrewdly, finally folding his arms and demanding, "Are you in love with him?"

Yami managed not to choke on his surprise at the question (a fact which he was rather proud of). "Excuse me?"

"Well, are you?" Mokuba asked, losing a little of the severity in the question.

"…No, I'm not," Yami answered. "I do like him though… most of the time."

Mokuba brightened. "Do you like me too?"

The childish eagerness of the question made Yami smile. "Yes, I do."

"Good." Mokuba practically tackled Yami with a hug, luckily not knocking either of them down the stairs. He held on a moment before he let go, grinning at Yami. "I like you too." He grinned at Yami sheepishly for a moment, before he hurried back into his own room.

Yami walked back to Yugi's house, still rather amused by the entire encounter. Seto had been right about one thing, though; Mokuba had very nice blue eyes.

Yugi awoke to find himself standing on his front porch, the front door open. He blinked in bewilderment at his surroundings. Since when did he start sleepwalking, anyway? He shrugged and walked inside, closing the door and locking it behind him.    


	10. A Matter of Lies and Death

A Matter of Lies and Death

_x.x.x_

"Where the hell is it?!"

Seto's normally pristine room looked like a tornado had tap-danced through it. Paper and books were scattered everywhere, and were continuing to be thrown in wild disarray as Seto searched frantically over the contents of his desk.

Mokuba narrowly dodged a flying paperweight as he stepped into the room to see what all the noise was about. "Seto? What are you doing?" He surveyed the growing mess with a mixture of surprise and awe. "What are you looking for?"

"My design!" Seto snarled, dumping out the contents of another desk drawer. "It has to be here, it just HAS to!"

"Your design for what?" Mokuba carefully stepped over some scattered papers.

Seto sat back and glowered at his desk, which he seemed to be blaming for the disappearance of his papers. "The one I made for a contest. It's the greatest Duel Monsters' arena ever designed, and it's sure to win if I can just _find it_."

Mokuba squatted down by Seto and started to put the piles of paper into some semblance of order. "When did you see it last?"

"Just the other day," Seto muttered. "I wouldn't have misplaced it, I'm sure I just left it on my desk, and…" His eyes narrowed as realization struck him. "Somebody took it!"

Mokuba glanced over at Seto uneasily. Surely it wasn't… "You don't think Yami took it, do you?"

Seto made a dismissive gesture. "No, of course not, Yami wouldn't-" He paused, looking over at Mokuba with surprise. "You know about Yami?"

Mokuba grinned, nodding. "Yep! I talked to him when he left your room really early this morning. Why didn't you tell me about him? You knew about him, but you kept telling me he was Yugi!"

Seto sighed. "Look, Mokie, you know you'd be the first person I would tell about seeing a ghost. You would be the only person who'd believe me! But Yami said he didn't want anybody else to know. I'm kind of surprised he told you even… but I guess it was better than letting Yugi take control and let him try to figure out why the hell he was standing in my hallway at two in the morning."

Mokuba nodded, a little relieved that Seto didn't think Yami took his contest entry. "So who _do_ you think took your design?"

"Oh, I know who took it." Seto sighed. "Unfortunately, he's the one person who I can't get it back from. Noa Kaiba." No, there was no way he could even confront Noa about stealing his design. For one thing, Noa could afford to hire every high-priced lawyer in the city, the ones that weren't already on the Kaiba Corp payroll. Most days, Seto could barely afford to buy lunch in the school cafeteria.

"Noa Kaiba?" Mokuba glowered. "When was he here?"

"Just the other day," Seto said. "I don't know why he was here, he didn't really say much. Then Yugi showed up, and I only turned my back on Noa for a _minute_… and that's when he must have grabbed my designs."

Mokuba reached up to pat his big brother's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Seto. One day you're going to own ALL of Kaiba Corp, and then they'll all be sorry. Won't they?"

Seto smiled a little at him. "You're right. One day, we'll make all those damned Kaibas sorry for messing with us Nishimuras."

At that moment, the phone in the other room began to ring. Seto and Mokuba glanced at each other, then both ran for the door, racing each other to the phone. Seto nearly got to it first, but Mokuba leapt at him, latching onto his legs and tripping up his big brother. Seto landed hard on the carpet, and Mokuba grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" Mokuba said, barely even breathless from his little run. He listened to the caller for a second, then held out the phone to Seto, who was glaring at him from his current place on the ground. "For you!"

Seto grabbed the phone from his brother, frowning at him before answering the caller. "Seto speaking."

"Hi Seto!" Yugi said cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Well, I've discovered being a cheating bastard runs in the Kaiba bloodline, but other than that, everything is just great."

Yugi's enthusiasm faded a little. "Oh. Really? What happened?"

Seto glowered at the memory. "Remember when you came over the other day and Noa Kaiba was here? Well, he stole something while he was here, and I don't think I can even get close enough to the Kaiba mansion to demand it back."

"Well, just talk to him about it the next time he starts following you around the city," Yugi suggested. "He can't seem to resist stalking you. It's kind of creepy, by the way."

Seto rolled his eyes. "Really? I hadn't noticed," he muttered, sarcasm dripping off every word.

"Don't worry about it," Yugi advised. "You'll get it back. In the meantime, want to come over? Grandpa just got a new shipment of Duel Monsters cards."

"Sure, I'll be right over," Seto said. He and Yugi said their goodbyes, and Seto hung up. He looked up to find Mokuba watching him eagerly. "What?"

"Are you going over to Yugi's?" Mokuba asked, all but bouncing with excitement.

"Yeahhh…" Seto said. "Why?"

"Can I come? Please, Seto?" Mokuba clasped his hands together, pleading for all he was worth.

"I thought Mom said you couldn't go anywhere until your room was clean," Seto said, heading back to his own room to grab his backpack.

"My room is clean!" Mokuba protested.

"Right." Seto walked down the hallway and opened Mokuba's door, staring over the wasteland of toys, books, clothes, and probably sentient life buried somewhere under one of the piles. "I don't see how you can stand to live in this dump."

"You're room's not much better right now!"

"That's different, I was looking for something." Seto ruffled up his brother's hair. "Sorry Mokie, we both know if I brought you, Mom would flay us alive. But I'll bring you back some new cards, alright?"

Mokuba frowned, but finally gave up. "Alright. But they'd better be really good cards!"

Seto laughed and nodded, heading downstairs. Passing through the dining room, Seto noticed a package on the table addressed to him. Briefly he considered opening it, then figured it could wait until he got home. If he didn't get over to meet Yugi soon, all of the good cards would be gone.

_x.x.x_

"Hey Seto!" Yugi called over across the store as Seto arrived. "You're just in time, Grandpa's unloading the shipment." He pointed to all the boxes piled up by the game store's counter. "That's all of them!"

"Even this one?" Seto asked, picking up a small package that was hiding among all the large boxes. That one was addressed to Yugi. "I think this one is yours. It looks really similar to the one I got this morning."

"Really? What was in yours?" Yugi asked, taking the package and blinking at it. He shook it; the contents rattled around a lot.

"I dunno, I was kind of in a hurry to get here, I didn't open it."

"Huh." Yugi shrugged, grabbing the box cutter his grandfather had brought out to open the shipment boxes. "Well, let's find out!" He slit the tape, opening up the box.

Inside were three items; an envelope, a video cassette, and a single glove that seemed to have an odd metal cuff around the wrist.

"Weird…" Yugi muttered, opening the envelope. Two Duel Monster's cards fell out, and a small token in the shape of the star. Still not understanding the significance, Yugi peered into the envelope to see if there was a letter. There didn't seem to be. "I wonder who sent all this stuff."

Seto held up the video tape. "Whoever it was sure wants to pique your interest. Shall we see what further clues this holds?"

"Yes!" Yugi grabbed the tape, hurrying to the back room. "We've got a VCR back here."

Turning on the TV and putting in the tape, Yugi and Seto sat back to watch the show. Except, there didn't seem to be much on the tape but static. "This is lame," Yugi mumbled.

"Lame, is it?"

The static on the screen cleared, revealing the rather amused face of Maximillion Pegasus. Both Yugi and Seto recognized him immediately; he was the famous creator of Duel Monsters, how could they not know him?

But how the hell could he be talking to them _through the TV?_

"I've been very eager to meet you, Yugi Motou," Pegasus continued. He held up a pack of Duel Monsters. "Perhaps you would do me the honor of a game?"

"Okay, this is weird," Yugi whispered to Seto.

Seto nodded. "It has to be some sort of trick."

"I assure you, this is no trick, Seto Nishimura," said the screen-image of Pegasus. "So, little Yugi, shall we begin our duel? It really is in your best interest to agree… unless you would prefer to let the spirit of your Millennium Puzzle to do your dueling for you…"

"The _what_ of my _what_?" Yugi all but yelped, grasping at the familiar weight of the Millennium Puzzle around his neck.

"Oh, that's right," Pegasus murmured, feigning concern. "Your own other half hasn't yet deemed to reveal himself to you. Perhaps you should ask your friend Seto, he knows all about him…"

"That is enough," Yugi suddenly growled, Yami's fierce eyes glaring at Pegasus' image on the TV screen. "I haven't told Yugi for a reason."

"To protect him, how noble of you," Pegasus drawled. "But you didn't think about how knowledge of your existence might put the people you have told in danger, have you?"

This was all a little too much for Seto to understand. Sure, there was a ghost that seemed to spontaneously take over the body of his best friend. Weird certainly, but nothing that he couldn't handle. But now that ghost seemed to be holding an argument with a magical video tape, and that was just too strange for words.

"Are you threatening my friends?" Yami all but snarled, his tone dangerous.

"Of course not," Pegasus murmured innocently. "Not if you play this one little duel with me. Really, that's all I'm asking. If you win, I'll leave you and your friends alone."

Yami didn't even ask what Pegasus would demand should he happen to lose. Because Yami never lost. He pulled out his card deck, setting it out on the small table in front of the TV. "Alright then. Let's duel."

"One more thing," Pegasus interrupted, holding up a deck of cards of his own. "You only have ten minutes to beat me. If time runs out before the end of the duel, you automatically lose. Are you ready then?"

"Just go."

It was almost surreal, watching Yami duel Pegasus. Seto sat back, finding himself somehow able to ignore the strangeness of the situation, in favor of wondering who would win. On the one hand, Pegasus was the creator of Duel Monsters, surely he had every card, every strategy, every upper hand a player could ever have. On the other hand, Yami was the most incredible player Seto had ever seen. It was a very close duel.

And Yami was winning.

Pegasus seemed to be very unconcerned with that, however. Even as Yami set up a final deadly strategy, Seto realized why.

Winning or not, Yami was running out of time.

Was it Seto's imagination, or was Pegasus stalling during his turns. He glanced down at the little clock at the bottom half of the screen, his eyes widening as he realized how much time was really left. 12 seconds.

"Now let me see…" Pegasus murmured, pondering over the cards in his hand. "I think I'll play…"

9 seconds.

"No," Pegasus decided, deciding against one card and moving to consider another one. "Not that one…"

6 seconds.

"I will play…" Pegasus slowly picked out a card from his deck, laying it facedown. "This one."

3 seconds.

Yami barely had enough time to snatch his next card from his hand, ready to put his finally move into play, when…

0 seconds.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Pegasus said cheerfully. "Time is up. And you were doing so well too! But I guess that means I win, hmm?"

"That isn't fair!" Seto nearly leapt from his seat. "Yami would have won and you know it." If there was one thing Seto couldn't stand, it was not good _cheaters_.

"Of course he would have," Pegasus murmured, that same fakey cheerful smile on his face. "But he didn't do it in ten minutes, and so I win. And now I shall collect my prize."

"What prize?" Yami demanded.

"Well, think of it as more of a down-payment. You can win it back at my tournament, if you care to come."

"_What prize?_" Yami demanded again.

Pegasus brushed back some of his silvery hair, that had previously obscured one of his eyes. Where a normal eye should have been, a stylized golden eye had been placed, gleaming with the light so brightly it almost seemed to be glowing from within. Seto stared at it, recognizing the symbol immediately. The same eye design was on the front of Yugi's Puzzle.

But as Seto stared at that eye, he started to feel very odd. Dizzy, light-headed almost. He felt like he was going to pass out…

"_No!_"

Yami's shout broke whatever strange spell had been cast on Seto from that eye. Seto glanced at his friend, finding Yami hard to look at. Yami stood tall and regal, that same eye design glowing bright as the sun from his forehead, casting obscure shadows all around the room. Even Pegasus cringed away, though his own golden eye continued to glow brightly. Seto had no choice but to cover his own eyes or go blind…

"_You… shall…NOT…_" Yami growled, his voice strained with the effort of holding back whatever powers Pegasus held.

In a second it was over, and Yami crumpled to the ground. The TV hissed loudly with static.

Seto blinked, trying to clear the spots from his vision. Then he hurried to Yami's side, trying to somehow revive the unconscious spirit.

"Come on Yami…" Seto murmured. "Yami… Yugi… _one_ of you wake up, at least!"

"Seto?" A light hand touched Seto's shoulder.

Seto leapt up, whirling around to face this new complication. Before him stood a man far paler than anything Seto believed possible, with hair white as snow and eyes the color of a cloudless sky. "Who are _you_?" Seto demanded. "Whoever you are and whatever you want, just _go away_! I've got enough to deal with at the moment."

"More than you know," said the man, nodding gravely. "My name is Kin. I'm a Blue Eyes White Dragon."

Seto stared at him, then very slowly sat down on the floor. "I'm sorry. My weirdness tolerability is severely overtaxed at the moment."

Kin nodded, taking a seat on the floor as well. "Situations where we Duel Monsters have a need to make contact with mortals are very rare. If it helps, I think you're taking it very well."

"Taking it _well_?" Seto yelled. "You had better start explaining things very quickly, or I'll show you just how quickly I can go from _taking it well_ to complete raving _lunatic_!"

"Alright, alright…" Kin murmured. "What do you want to know first?"

"Start with what the hell Maximillion Pegasus did to Yami."

Kin nodded, watching Seto with his intensely blue stare. "Alright. From what we in the Shadow Realm can tell, Pegasus needs Yami's powers for something. To get them, he has to beat Yami in a duel."

"He just did that," Seto pointed out.

"A _fair_ duel," Kin corrected. "Pegasus has this whole big plan that is going to take place at his Duel Monsters tournament on his island. Pegasus' intention _here_ was to take your soul, using it as bait to force Yami to attend this tournament."

"_My_ soul?"

"Yami managed to stop him, though at great cost. When Yami interfered with Pegasus, Pegasus accidentally ripped out a chunk of Yami's soul, rather of grabbing yours."

Seto looked down at the prone form of his friend. "That's why he won't wake up?"

"He is injured, but he will wake up soon. That is what I came here to talk to you about." Kin looked down at Yami as well. "You must keep him from overexerting himself, or preferably, from coming out at all. With Yami's soul torn like this, he is in danger of… shall we say, spiritually bleeding to death. Unless the other piece is recovered, both he and Yugi will die."

"Yugi too?" Seto gaped at him.

Kin shrugged. "When Yami comes out of his soul room, he and Yugi's souls are very close, nearly melded together. We think Pegasus got a piece of Yugi as well." Kin looked at Seto seriously. "Bring them to Duelist Kingdom. Help them recover their souls. Or all will be lost."

Seto glared at him. "You don't ask for much, do you?"

Kin smiled at him faintly. "We will all be aiding you as much as we can, but you must do this. For Yugi and Yami's sake, if not the entire world's." He stood up, bowing down low to Seto. A mist of purple and black darkness swirled up around Kin's pale form, and as it faded, so did the self-proclaimed dragon.

_x.x.x_

Yugi did wake up a little while later, though with wakefulness came a pounding headache. Seto said around long enough to make sure Yugi got to bed alright, and then headed home.

The package was still sitting on the dining room table when he arrived. For a long while he just stood there and glared at it, before finally ripping off the tape. Inside was an envelope containing a duel monster's card and a star-shaped token, and a single glove with the odd metal band around the wrist.

In a fit of frustration, Seto tossed the box and all its contents across the room.

_x.x.x_

A package was waiting on Ryou's doorstep when he got home from grocery shopping. He managed to juggle around the paper bags he was holding so he could pick up the box, carrying the whole load inside without dropping anything. Curious as to who sent the box, he plopped down on the couch and ripped off the tape.

Inside the box was a glove, and an envelope with a star token, a Duel Monsters' card, and a letter. The letter graciously invited him to participate in an upcoming Duel Monsters Tournament, hosted by Maximillion Pegasus on his own private island. There was a large cash prize, plus a free ride on a cruise ship to and from the island. It really sounded like fun.

_I don't have time for this_, a voice growled at the back of Ryou's mind.

Ryou shivered at the now familiar sensation, the feeling of being pushed back, of no longer being in control of his own body. The Ryou-that-was-not-Ryou tossed the package's contents back onto the table, dismissing them as worthless.

"I am here to collect the Millennium Puzzle, not to play some silly game," Bakura growled aloud.

_But I want to play in the tournament,_ Ryou whimpered softly, trying not to anger that strange presence that seemed to take over his body more often than not these days. But still… he wanted to join all those other kids and play Duel Monsters, no matter how silly that darker presence said it was.

Bakura ignored Ryou's pleading voice, though something on the letter did catch his attention. Hosted by Maximillion Pegasus? Pegasus was the possessor of the Millennium Eye, was he not?

Bakura had come to this city to steal the Millennium Puzzle, but there were other Millennium Items out there to steal as well. And these Millennium Items had a way of ending up in the same places, so if the owner of the Puzzle ended up on the same island as the Eye, why shouldn't it be possible for the spirit of the Millennium Ring to get them both at once?

"You know, I think I will let you go to this little tournament," Bakura murmured, picking up the pack of Duel Monster's cards he kept. He rifled through the deck to pull out a single card. "I'll even make certain you win."

The Millennium Ring glowed, digging deep within to drag out Ryou's cowering soul. Bakura listened with amusement to Ryou's terrified shrieks, silenced suddenly as Bakura sealed away the boy's soul inside of his favorite card. Bakura slid the card back into the deck, shuffling it, and setting it down. He reached into the package once more, removing the glove from the box, and pulling it on with a certain satisfaction.


	11. Journey of One Thousand Miles

Journey of One Thousand Miles

_x.x.x_

"You'd think by now I'd be used to this," Yugi murmured to himself, squinting through the darkness, trying to discern the odd liquid shapes moving and flowing just out of the range of his vision.

He'd been here before, in his dreams, at least a dozen or so times in the past couple weeks. The warm, enveloping darkness, where everything was peaceful and safe. Usually he could just relax in this place, knowing that wherever or whenever he woke, things would be alright, or perhaps even strangely better than they were before.

But not this time. Somehow his dark quiet place was disturbed. Yugi's body, and similarly all the air around him, thrummed with pain. He'd gone to bed with a headache, but somehow now the ache was all over him, itching in some places and burning in others. He tried to focus on something beyond his immediate area, trying to ignore his hurts. Maybe if he was lucky-

"Yugi?"

Yugi brightened a little, sitting up straighter and wincing at the pain this caused him. He was here! Sometimes, in brief glimpses, Yugi could see the dark mirror image of himself in this dark place. But this strange and wonderful Yugi-but-not-Yugi had never spoken to him, except in the first dream, when Yugi had first seen the dark place and met this other.

"Yugi?" came the voice again, rich in tone, as the figured moved forward from the darkness. "Are you alright?"

Yugi nodded, then guessed that this other person couldn't see so well in the darkness, either. "Yes… I'm alright…" A sharp stab of pain reminded him otherwise. "No," he corrected himself. "No, something hurts bad…"

"I know." The figure moved in closer, to where Yugi could see him.

Yugi let out a startled cry, to see this figure so much like him in front of him. This Not-Yugi was badly battered, clutching at his side where blood leaked profusely through the fabric of his shirt, staining a sticky trail all the way down one leg.

"You're hurt!" Yugi gasped, trying to clamber up to help. Halfway through the movement, Yugi collapsed again, curled up on himself, wracked with painful jolts.

"So are you," the Not-Yugi pointed out, carefully sitting himself down beside Yugi, rather than trying to get Yugi to stand up again. "Relax, the pain will ease."

Yugi took a few shallow breaths, swallowing and blinking back tears. Relaxing slightly, the pain did begin to ease off a little. "What… what happened?"

"We were injured in battle," the other said quietly. "And it's… my fault. I thought I could protect you; if only you didn't know about me, you would be safe…" He took a deep breath, his hand on his would clenching tighter in the pain that brought. "I should have told you from the beginning."

"Told me what?" Yugi whispered.

The other turned to look at him. Yugi found himself staring at eyes vastly different from his own, glinting red even in the darkness. "My name is Yami. I was brought to you through the Millennium Puzzle."

Yugi blinked and automatically clutched at his puzzle, the familiar and comforting weight hanging around his neck. "My puzzle? So it really is magic, it wasn't just a fairy tale?"

"Even I do not know the full extent of its powers," Yami murmured softly. "All I know is that it was in those pieces my soul resided for hundreds of years, until you put them back together and brought me out. You and… your friend. Seto."

"Seto?" Yugi's eyes widened, suddenly remembering when the pain had started, Seto had been there. Someone had tried to hurt Seto! "Is he here too? Is he hurt?"

"He's fine." Yami managed a pained little smile. "You acted very bravely, helped me to save him. Do you remember what happened with Pegasus?"

"Not… not really…" Yugi admitted. A lot of his memories from earlier that day were blurry, foggy from the pain perhaps. "Is that who hurt us?"

"Yes." Yami scowled, looking off into the darkened distance as if he could see the cause of their pain there. "He has an item. Marked with the same symbol as this." Yami lightly touched the golden eye centered on the front of the Millennium Puzzle. "It has powers. He tried to take Seto's soul with it, but we intervened, and… Pegasus took a piece of us instead." Still scowling, Yami grabbed the edge of his shirt and wrung the blood out of it.

"A piece of our souls?" Yugi asked. He swallowed. "Are we going to die?"

"No!" Yugi jumped at Yami's emphatic reply, and Yami's expression softened somewhat. "No. We're not going to die. But we're hurt, both of us, we have to be very careful from now on. Until we can get the pieces of our souls back, we're not going to heal."

"You're hurt worse," Yugi pointed out. "You should rest. I'll do… whatever needs to be done."

Yami looked like he wanted to protest, but their was no arguing with the truth in Yugi's words. Yami was badly injured, and would only be hurt worse if he tried too much. "And Seto. Get Seto to help, he knows of me." Yami frowned, remembering someone else that knew his secret. "Mokuba knows of me too. They're probably both in danger, because of me, as well."

"You rest," Yugi insisted again, trying to sound in control and capable. "With Seto and Mokuba helping, we'll have our souls back in no time. Okay?"

Yami had visions of all the devastation Pegasus could wreak upon these few mortals that were his friends, with whatever unknown powers that golden eye of his possessed. Swallowing down that stab of genuine fear, and the demands that Yugi keep himself and his friends out of this, out of harm's way, Yami just closed his eyes and nodded. "Alright."

_x.x.x_

Pegasus was very unhappy.

All of his servants ran to get out of his way as Pegasus stomped through the hallway. No, no, _no_, this had gone all wrong!

Well, perhaps not _all_ wrong, a shrewd part of himself put in quietly. He had gotten the bargaining piece he'd needed. Yugi would definitely show up to the tournament now. He had to.

To save himself.

_That_ was why Pegasus was unhappy. His aims had been to take the soul of Yugi's best friend, Seto Nishimura. Stealing the whole soul away would have left Seto's body empty, a veritable zombie, but he wouldn't have been hurt! Yugi and that damned spirit of the Millennium Puzzle shouldn't have fought back. It only made the situation worse, for everyone.

Pegasus stormed into his private chambers, slamming the door shut with more force than he'd ever shown anything. He snatched up the single card that lay on the table, staring at its face. This one of a kind Duel Monster's card depicted two vapor-thin ghosts, both of them caught up in a permanent twist of agony. With his Millennium Eye, Pegasus could see beyond the card, into the whole different world that it contained.

Inside this realm of shadows, Pegasus had caught two souls, or rather pieces of souls, ripping out a chunk of each by mistake. The Shadow Realm echoed with their ghostly cries of pain.

He could just return them. Pegasus glowered, tossing the card back onto the table. No, he knew he couldn't do that. He hadn't meant to hurt either the boy or the spirit, but the damage was done. They would just have to come here and battle to retrieve them.

Because there was too much at stake now to show mercy, as much as Pegasus wanted to.

He moved to the window, looking out over his island. New additions dotted all over the islands surface, the ingeniously designed Duel Monsters arenas. The finishing touches were being put on them now, just in time for them to be ready for the tournament. Pegasus had been pleasantly surprised by all the entries he'd gotten for the contest he'd held, but this entry had been far and away beyond his expectations. The boy who had entered it, Noa Kaiba, was brilliant.

And so, everything was ready. Anticipation knotted within Pegasus. For his beloved's sake, he hoped he won. For Yugi and Yami's sake, he hoped they did.

_x.x.x_

"Are you certain about this?" Ishizu Ishtar walked toward the front deck of the boat, watching the lone figure that stood there gazing out over the expanse of water. "You really want to go through with this?"

Her little brother Malik turned to look at her, though something dark and unnatural glinted within his gaze, something evil. "You didn't have to come." The hints of darkness faded from his face for a moment, and he almost looked regretful. "Perhaps you shouldn't have."

Ishizu touched the pendant she always wore around her neck, allowing her fingers to trace the design of the golden eye. "I will be safe, and I choose to be by my brother's side. No matter how misguided he is."

"Misguided?" Malik laughed, a laugh tinged with the darker thing, the thing that Ishizu sensed growing stronger and bolder within her brother. "You never have any faith in me. But you'll see. You'll see, and you'll be sorry for doubting me."

"I'm already sorry," Ishizu whispered, but Malik had already turned his attention away from her. She brushed back some of her dark hair, walking to stand beside him, letting the sea air breeze over her. "It'll still be a while before we arrive."

"Do you think Pegasus is expecting us?" Malik murmured, his voice cool, but a hint of malicious intent playing around his smile.

"He has the Millennium Eye; if he has not seen our approach already, surely he will sense the presence of our items before we arrive."

Malik nodded with satisfaction, his grip tightening around the Millennium Rod, which he carried with him always. "Good." He grinned out over the sea, unable to see their destination before them, but knowing it was there. The "Duelist Kingdom," as Pegasus had named it. "Good," he whispered again.


	12. Thief of Hearts

King of Games, Thief of Hearts

_x.x.x_

"Aww, can't I come, Seto? Pleeeaaase??"

Seto rolled his eyes, stuffing another clean shirt into his backpack. "I told you already, Mokuba, _no_, you can't come. For one thing, you weren't invited. For another thing, I'm not going to have a good time at this tournament; I'm going to save Yugi and Yami's souls from being torn to pieces by a whacked out psychopath with silver hair."

"But I can help!" Mokuba insisted. He stubbornly held out his own backpack. "See, I'm already packed even!"

Seto sighed, closing his pack. "Mokie," he said softly. "It's going to be dangerous. This guy can steal people's souls! What'll Mom say if I come back with you as a soulless zombie?"

Mokuba glared at him. "I want to help Yami and Yugi. They're my friends. And besides," he folded his arms and smirked, "if you don't let me come, I'll tell Mom that you hit me."

"Oh please. I've never hit you, and never would, and you know it."

"Yeah, but I'm little and cute, I know how to pretend to cry, AND I'm the younger brother. Mom would believe me, and you'd be in trouble," Mokuba pointed out. "Then neither of us would be able to go."

Seto just stared at Mokuba for a moment, before finally giving up. "Damn, you've got a point. Alright, fine, you can come. But you gotta ask Mom first. And remember, I'm going to this thing to save Yugi, and I don't want to have to worry about saving you too."

Mokuba nodded enthusiastically. "Yay, I get to come!" He ran out of the room, yelling down the stairs. "MOM! Can I go with Seto to the Duelist Kingdom tournament?"

"Is your room clean?" Ms. Nishimura called back up.

Mokuba looked over at his bedroom, and the total chaos residing within, clearly visible from the hall. Very quietly, he closed the door, satisfied that she probably wouldn't peek in there until _after_ the boat had left. "Yes, it's clean!"

"Then yes, you may go. But Seto's in charge while you're there, I want you staying where he can keep an eye on you."

"Don't worry," Seto said, coming out of his room and heading downstairs. "I'll keep a leash on him if I have to." A car honked from outside. "C'mon Mokie, that's our ride. Bye, Mom!"

_x.x.x_

Yugi's grandfather dropped them off at the dock, where the large cruise ship awaited its passengers. Seto had kept a close eye on Yugi during the ride there, and though he appeared alright for the most part, he had kind of a… strained look to him, and he wasn't as talkative as normal.

"Let's try to find Joey before the boat leaves…" Yugi murmured, standing on his tiptoes and trying to see over the large crowds of people.

"Mm.." Seto looked around half-heartedly, then frowned at Yugi. "Are you sure you're up to coming to this? I mean… I could probably take care of it on my own, you don't look so well…"

"I'm fine…" Yugi murmured. "Just, I dunno, a little tired I guess. But I've got to go, Seto. I have to help save Yami too. I promised him…"

"Alright. But you be careful on this trip…"

"Look, there's Joey!" Mokuba pointed. "Hey Joey! Over here!"

"Hey guys!" Joey made his way through the crowd and over to them. "Isn't that the biggest ship you've ever seen? It's almost half the size of the city!" He grinned. "I bet the food's great too! I hear cruise ships always have the best food…"

Only Mokuba seemed to show any enthusiasm for the trip, and Joey frowned at the other two. "What's wrong with you two? Out of everybody, you should be the most excited. You two'll probably get second and third place."

"Oh?" Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "Who're you expecting to win first place?"

Joey grinned at him, easily confident in everything he did. "Me, of course!"

"Riiight…" Seto muttered. "Come on already, let's go find our rooms…"

Large crowds of duelists were already lining up to get onto the ship, and it seemed to take forever for everybody to climb onboard. When at last everyone was boarded, the ship cast off, sailing slowly into open waters and then making for the Duelist Kingdom.

_x.x.x_

"Would you HURRY UP?" Shiroi shouted down the hallway. "We have to go _now_!" He stood impatiently by a swirling portal of black and purple lights, which hung open waiting to transport them into the realm of the humans.

Exodia tromped down the hallway as fast as he could, with most of Yami's guardians hurrying behind him. When they reached the portal, Shiroi quickly counted heads. "five…six… seven… Where's Hansha?"

The dark portal fizzled suddenly, hissing with displeasure before finally folding and dying out of existence. Shiroi turned to gape; where the portal had been now stood Hansha, arms folded and looking upset.

"Hansha!" Shiroi shouted. "What the hell was that for? We have to go!"

"We can't go," Hansha murmured sadly. "And you know why we can't go."

Shiroi glared at him. "Yeah, a bunch of stupid outdated rules. In case you don't remember, Yami just had his soul ripped in HALF, and now that… that THING is there on the boat with him. We're his Guardians; we're supposed to protect him. And we haven't been doing such a great job of it lately."

"We're supposed to protect him from the things he can't _handle_," Hansha clarified gently. "And he can handle the Tomb Robber, even in the condition he's in. You know we can't give aid in a Game; Yami must do this on his own."

Shiroi grit his teeth slightly, before finally hanging his head and giving up. "Alright, alright… but what about the others? Surely they should have some warning, some protection, before the Game starts. And _someone_ has to be there to make sure Yami remembers his limits."

Hansha thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "Go get the twins. Gin and Kin can talk to Seto, but that's all the interference I can allow."

Somewhat grumbling, Shiroi nodded, turning to go and find his brothers. Already the other Guardians were dispersing, returning to their other duties, though Exodia still stood there, watching the scene, as silent as ever. Shiroi blinked, then smiled at the giant weakly, lightly touching Exodia's arm as he walked past. "At least _you_ were willing to come with me, rules or no rules…"

Exodia turned to watch him go, as Shiroi ran down the hallway to find Gin and Kin. _Always,_ he thought, before beginning his own lumbering trek down the hall. _I would follow you anywhere._

_x.x.x_

"This is our room?" Mokuba asked, slowly setting his backpack down and scowling at the small area. "It's so tiny! It's even smaller than _my_ room."

"It isn't all that bad," Seto said, putting down his pack as well. "Besides, they weren't expecting two of us. Here, toss down a few pillows from the bed, alright? I'll sleep on the floor tonight."

Mokuba nodded, scrambling onto the bed to grab a few of the pillows and the top covering, tossing most of them to the floor, and chucking the last pillow at Seto's head, just for fun. Seto smirked as he picked up the pillow that had just hit him, immediately tackling Mokuba and beginning to pummel him with the soft projectile. They were both laughing insanely when the room door opened.

"Having fun, I see…"

Mokuba let out a delighted cry. "Yami!" He pushed Seto away as he leapt up, running to glomp onto Yami.

"Yami?" Seto sat up, frowning at the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. "What are you doing out?"

Yami just looked amused at Mokuba, then glanced at Seto and shrugged. "I'm helping to locate Yugi's room."

"It's easy to get lost around here…" Mokuba murmured, finally letting go of Yami, grinning up at him. "This ship is huge! I'd bet it's even larger than the Kaiba mansion. Here; we'll help you find the room!" He grabbed for Yami's hand, dragging the Millennium spirit out into the hallway.

Seto smiled faintly at Mokuba's obvious attachment to Yami, grabbing the room key before following the two out.

/…Yami?…/ Yugi's voice reached tentatively into Yami's mind.

…Yes? Is there something the matter?…

/…Seto and Mokuba can help me find the room. You shouldn't stay out too long, you know. I can feel you getting weaker…/

Yami smiled faintly. …And here I was thinking _I_ would be the one protecting _you_. As you wish it, then…He closed his eyes briefly, allowing Yugi to regain control over the form.

Feeling much better from the brief rest he'd had while Yami was out, Yugi grinned at his friends. "I'm pretty sure the room's down this way!" He took off running down the hallway, calling back for Mokuba and Seto to hurry up.

They ran after him, and in a short period of time, managed to get themselves magnificently lost. But they were having a great time, running around the hallways of the ship, examining each identical hallway for some sign that perhaps they'd run through this one already.

"Hey, look!" Yugi pointed as they sprinted down yet another dull hall. "There's Ryou, maybe he knows the way."

"Ryou?" Seto blinked, frowning slightly at the white haired boy down the hall. He did look familiar, but Seto hadn't ever spoken to him before.

"Yeah, he's in my History class," Yugi said. He waved as they ran over. "Hey, Ryou! I didn't know you played Duel Monsters."

"Well, only a little," Ryou admitted sheepishly. "It was quite a surprise when I got the invitation to the tournament. I don't suppose you know where room 316 is…?"

Mokuba groaned. "Oh no, you're lost too? We're never gonna find our room again…"

Ryou nodded. "I've been wandering around here for a good half hour now. They really should provide maps."

"Well, we'll help you find it," Yugi promised, grinning. "That's how we ended up here, we were looking for my room, and then got turned around somewhere, and… well, now we're not sure the way back to Seto and Mokuba's room, either."

Mokuba was already scouting ahead down the next hallway. "Yugi! What was your room number again?"

Yugi looked at his little slip of paper with the room assignment number on it. "Room 206."

"I found it!" Mokuba declared.

They all ran down the hall to catch up with him, and all of them let out a slight sigh of relief when Yugi's key fit the lock.

"Wow…" Mokuba murmured, peering inside. "This is a lot bigger than our room!" He went in, having decided it was pressingly important to test how bouncy the bed was.

"Come on in," Yugi invited. "We'll rest a while before going to look for the other rooms. It's been a long search!" He dumped his luggage on the floor, then began a quick assessment of the room.

"Yeah, this is nicer than ours," Seto murmured, grabbing his little brother off the bed. Mokuba giggled, squirming out of Seto's grasp to go examine the mini fridge.

"Well, so long as we're resting," Ryou murmured, sitting down at the table and pulling out his duel monsters deck, "how about a game, Yugi?"

Yugi grinned, grabbing his own deck and sitting at the table as well. "Sure!"

"We warned, though, Yugi's really good!" Mokuba said, grabbing another chair so he could sit and watch the game. "And he's got some really good cards."

"Oh really?" Ryou smiled at Yugi as he shuffled his deck. "What's your favorite card?"

"Hmm…" Yugi rifled through his deck a moment, then pulled out one, showing it off proudly. "This one. The Dark Magician! He always comes through for me…" He slipped the card back into his deck, beginning to shuffle it.

"Not always," Seto reminded him, smirking faintly as he pulled up a chair as well. "I seem to recall my Blue Eyes White Dragons taking down your Dark Magician a time or two."

"You have Blue Eyes White Dragon cards?" Ryou seemed impressed, then shook his head. "I don't believe you. There are only four of those, I can't believe you'd even have one of those."

"I won them off a snotty rich brat," Seto said, retrieving two of the three Blue Eyes White Dragon cards from his own dueling deck to show them to Ryou. "They're my favorites."

"Mine too!" Mokuba added. "No offense to your Dark Magician, Yugi, but the Blue Eyes are the best!"

Yugi laughed. "Well, every player has their own favorite." He put his deck down on the table. "You ready, Ryou?"

"Yes, I'm ready. Oh! Wait, I forgot one more thing…" Ryou's eyes narrowed suddenly, his soft smile changing into a wide, vicious grin. Seto glimpsed the stylized eye-design he'd come to dread glowing brightly on Ryou's forehead, and then he saw only darkness.

Bakura grinned in satisfaction as Yugi, Seto and Mokuba all toppled forward. Their souls floated hazily, confused and startled at having been ripped so suddenly from their bodies. Seconds later they were dragged forward again, each soul imprisoned within its favorite card.

"You've gotten sloppy, Pharaoh," Bakura whispered, shaking his head and grinning at Yugi's prone form. "That was far too easy." He frowned then; it _had_ been too easy. A duel had to commence before he could claim the powers of the Millennium Puzzle… so what the hell was taking his opponent so long? If Yami didn't come out soon, Bakura was taking the Puzzle, rules or no rules.

But, so long as he was waiting…

Bakura glanced over at the other soulless forms. Mokuba was of no interest to him, but Seto… well, at least Seto had something that was worthwhile. Bakura reached for Seto's Duel Monsters deck, pulling out the two Blue Eyes White Dragon cards. Now _these_ at least were worth something. Smirking at his new prizes, Bakura added the two cards to his own deck.

Yami groaned faintly then, finally stirring. His head was spinning; it was far too soon to be out again, he'd barely had time to recover from the last time. The wound Pegasus had caused to his soul weakened him more than he'd realized, and he could feel it throbbing, aching somewhere inside, growing stronger with every passing moment.

He grit his teeth, looking first to Seto and Mokuba's slumped forms, then turning his glare to the smugly smirking Bakura. "You-! What have you DONE to them?"

"It's about time you showed up, Pharaoh," Bakura said. He tapped his deck lightly. "Shall we begin?"

"Bring them back!" Yami demanded. He clenched at his side unconsciously, trying to will down the pain that even now was threatening to become unbearable.

Bakura's grin widened, delighted at the realization that the Pharaoh was even now trembling slightly with pain. "You've been _injured_! What a nice surprise this is. Well Pharaoh, if you want your friends back, I suggest you start drawing your cards before you pass out!"

"Swear to return them," Yami commanded, though his voice sounded slightly ragged. Oh gods and immortals, it even hurt to talk!

"If you win," Bakura clarified. "If you win, they're all yours, but if I win…" He snickered, noticing the pained strain on Yami's face. "…_when_ I win, their souls are doomed. And your Millennium Puzzle is mine. And _you_… heh, by then, you'll probably be dead. So draw your cards and let's get this over with."

_No choice. I just pray I can finish this quickly._ Yami drew his cards, scanning over them. Somewhere in the distance, he heard a rumble of thunder, and he glanced up at his opponent sharply.

Bakura still sat casually in his chair, absent-mindedly tracing over the design of the odd amulet he wore around his neck, crafted in the same style as the Millennium Puzzle. Yami scowled at it, vaguely recognizing it but unable to remember where he knew it from. As he watched it, though, its golden designs glowed and glittered at him, and all around Bakura a hazy cloud of darkness swirled up, encompassing the rest of the room.

This too was familiar, and Yami remembered it to be quite deadly. The words "_Shadow Game"_ came to mind.

But Yami had more important things to worry about. The first being, of course, rescuing his friends from whatever this fiend had done to them. Himself coming out of this mess alive would come in as a close second, though.

_Please let me have something good to play…_Yami's gaze rested on the cards again, relieved to find the Dark Magician already in his hand. "I play the Dark Magician, in defense mode."

By now the mass of shadows swirled thickly around the edge of the room, swirling over the furniture and walls, obscuring them from view. As Yami laid down the card, its surface began to glow. Yami stared in horror as the Duel Monster he had called actually appeared- albeit very miniature- and looked around in confusion. Even more disturbing was that the Dark Magician looked exactly like Yugi.

"Yugi?" Yami whispered.

The very tiny Duel Monster blinked up at him, let out a startled cry, took a stumbling step backward and fell on his rump. "Yami! Y-you're huge!"

"I… think perhaps you are just very small…" Yami murmured uncertainly.

"If you two are quite _finished_," Bakura interrupted. Little Dark Magician Yugi let out another yelp at seeing Yami's opponent. Not only was Bakura also much larger than the miniscule Yugi, he also had the sort of look on his face that suggested he might find squishing Yugi like a bug to be very entertaining.

Bakura examined the cards in his hand lazily, although he already knew precisely which cards he held. He'd made sure to place the two cards he'd stolen close to the top of the deck. "I play this…" he set down the card on the table. "The Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

_x.x.x_

This was possibly one of the oddest dreams Seto had ever had. He didn't even remember falling asleep. He remembered darkness… and then suddenly he was standing across from Yugi, who was rather comically dressed as the Dark Magician. And behind Yugi was Yami, a rather disturbingly overlarge Yami.

"Yugi?" he called over to him. "What is going on?"

Yugi stared at him. "S-Seto? Is… that you?"

"Of course it's me, who else would I be?"

"But…" Yugi swallowed, carefully standing up, clutching the staff of the Dark Magician in trembling hands. "You're a dragon!"

"What?!" Seto looked down at himself. It wasn't too difficult to see what Yugi meant, considering he now had a rather long, serpentine neck. Along with four feet, a long tail, wings, and gleaming white scales. "What the hell is this?!"

"I… I think we've been changed into our favorite cards," Yugi murmured. He pointed at something behind Seto. "By him."

Seto turned slightly, narrowing his eyes at Bakura. He recognized the style of Bakura's pendant. "Oh hell, not another one. How many of those damned items are there?"

"Quite a few, actually," Bakura said conversationally. "But I imagine this will be the last you'll ever see. Your turn, Pharaoh."

Yami drew a card, closing his eyes a moment as he tried to will the pain away so he could play. Unfortunately, he didn't have much in his hand worth playing. "I lay one card face down, and end my turn," Yami said, laying down a card. Even if the Dark Magician was stronger than a Blue Eyes White Dragon, how could Yami ask Yugi to attack Seto?

Bakura, however, didn't seem to have any such problems with that. "I summon my second Blue Eyes White Dragon!" he announced, laying down a second card.

The card glowed briefly a moment, before the light condensed into a second dragon. This one, however, was much smaller than Seto, and looked… younger, almost. Seto gawked at the littler Blue Eyes. "Mokuba?!"

The tiny dragon blinked up at him, gaping. "Seto! You're a dragon!"

"So are you!"

The Mokuba dragon looked down at himself, eeping, his tiny wings flapping. "I'm a Blue Eyes White Dragon! This is awesome!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that yet…" Seto murmured. He glanced up at Bakura, whose side he was unwillingly playing on.

Bakura just grinned. "Now for the attack… my first Blue Eyes, destroy the Pharaoh's Dark Magician!"

Seto, of course, had absolutely no intention of destroying Yugi. It didn't seem like he had much of a choice though; his dragon form moved of its own will, wings stretching out to raise him upward. Seto's throat burned, and he opened his mouth even as he felt the power for the attack rising. He closed his eyes against the sight of his own white lightning attack racing toward Yugi.

Every inch of Yugi's body felt like it was on fire as he was enveloped in white lightning. But his agony only lasted a brief moment, before he vanished from the playing field.

_x.x.x_

Yugi opened his eyes tentatively once the pain stopped. He was all alone now, Yami and Seto and Mokuba were nowhere to be seen, even Bakura was gone. For some reason, he was in the middle of a gloomy, deserted graveyard.

"What is this…?" he whispered, looking around. His gaze rested on the nearest tombstone.

Chiseled into the cold, gray stone was his own name.

"Crud."


	13. Dealing with Demons

Dealing with Demons

_x.x.x_

"This isn't right," Gin whispered in the darkness. The light from the mirror-window made his scales gleam like silver, his blue eyes like piercing gems. "We have to do something."

"We can't do something," Gin's twin, Kin murmured. "It's a Game. It's not allowed. We can't… disrupt a Game." He lowered his head, gazing at the mirror's reflection. "As much as I would like to."

"We must," a new voice whispered. The twin dragons turned, blinking at their younger brother Shiroi.

"You're suggesting we break the rules?" Gin asked. "We could lose our jobs for that. And then who would protect our charges?"

"If it comes to that, Midori and Hansha will watch over them," Shiroi whispered. "But this Game must end. Look at them! If this continues, Yami will die. Even now he's faltering, weakening. This is no fair Game. Yugi is in the Graveyard. Seto and Mokuba are being forced to play against their friends. Please. Tell me you'll help."

Kin sighed, looking down at the scene unfolding on the mirror's gleaming surface. "Yes. You're right. The Game is declared unfair. We'll need a lot of power though, and a conduit for that power…"

"No sweat," Shiroi murmured. "Exodia will help." He turned to look at the golden behemoth that had followed him in. "You could be the conduit for our power, couldn't you? Hansha seems to think that you're strong enough…"

Exodia's eyes widened, and he shook his head, taking a step back. He'd promised his help to Shiroi, but channeling so much power! That was a job for someone like Hansha… Exodia was sure he didn't have the strength for such a task. Even Hansha had trouble with it. It hurt to see the disappointment in Shiroi's eyes, but… he just couldn't do it. Not even for him.

Shiroi sighed. He was still sure Exodia could do it, but Exodia would never try… "Nevermind. I'll do it then."

"Don't be stupid," Gin said. "It will kill you."

"It'll be worth it," Shiroi replied. "But what of Yugi? Who will go get him?"

Exodia stepped forward, laying a hand on Shiroi's shoulder. This, at least, he could do. Shiroi nodded, and Exodia called up a swirl of Shadow Realm energy to transport him into the graveyard.

Left alone in the darkened room, the three dragons turned back to the mirror, their energies glowing off their scales like a soft, glowing mist. This Game would end, even if it meant standing up to the might of the Millennium Items.

_x.x.x_

Yugi hid behind a tall grave marker, trying really hard to be quiet. A silent creature, styled like the Grim Reaper, had been stalking him ever since he'd got here. He still wasn't sure HOW he had gotten here, but he didn't want that crazy Reaper of the Cards to catch up to him!

The ghostly apparition floated past his hiding place, clutching its scythe eagerly. Yugi breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed the specter would pass him by.

At that breathy noise, the Reaper of the Cards whirled, its scythe raised high to attack. Yugi let out a squeak of alarm, stumbling backward over graves, trying to escape-

A swirl of darkness and sapphire light swirled up, and a massive golden hand reached out, snatching the Reaper out of the air. The Duel Monster struggled violently against its captor. Yugi gawked as the strange swirling darkness faded, and one of the most legendary of all Duel Monsters, the great Exodia the Forbidden One, stood before him.

Holding on to the Reaper of the Cards' long robe, Exodia twirled the creature above his head, then let fly. The Reaper sailed off into the distance, until it was barely more than a dark spot on the horizon.

"You saved me," Yugi whispered, as Exodia turned to him. He hesitantly approached, looking way, way, _way_ up to the massive creature's face. "Thank you."

Exodia inclined his head in acceptance of Yugi's thanks. He crouched, holding out a large hand for Yugi to climb onto. Yugi scrambled into the beast's palm, clutching onto Exodia's thumb for lack of anything better to hold on to.

"Please tell me we're going home now. This place is creepy," Yugi said.

Exodia just gave him an equally creepy grin, and another dizzying swirl of blackness rose up to envelope them.

_x.x.x_

Seto felt like hell. Yes, it _was_ very cool that he and Mokuba were Blue Eyes White Dragons. But it was decidedly less appealing to be forced into destroying Yugi, and every other monster Yami happened to put out on the field. Additionally, Yami wasn't looking so great either. He looked… kind of ill, actually.

Seto really _tried_ not to attack him, he really did. But for some reason, when Bakura ordered an attack… Seto just couldn't help it. Every burst of white lightning burned his throat and brought tears to his eyes. The one bright spot in this whole mess was that _he_ was the one being forced to attack most of the time; Bakura seemed to be sparing Mokuba. Bakura seemed to find it a lot more amusing to watch Seto try to resist his commands.

Bakura really was enjoying this duel. The look of agony that the Pharaoh tried so hard to hide was truly delicious. Even more amusing was the little mortal's attempts to defy him. The tinier Blue Eyes was no challenge at all, but the _other_ one… the one called Seto. Now _that_ one was funny. He had enough willpower to almost resist Bakura's commands. Of course, he could never _succeed_… but it was fun to watch him try. So much fun, Bakura didn't mind prolonging this duel a little bit. Victory was assured, what difference would a few minutes make compared to the centuries the fiend had already waited?

When the disruptions began, a slight vibration of energies at the edges of his vision, Bakura ignored them. The Pharaoh didn't even seem to notice them. But when it persisted, even Bakura had to acknowledge that something was wrong. The mists of the Shadow Realm were turning back on themselves, illuminated by darting streaks of silver light. Someone was trying to interfere with him!

That was all the warning he got, before the explosion. It was if all the Shadow Realm began to spin and pitch wildly. Flashes of light exploded on all sides of them, and Bakura could feel all the magic he had invoked suddenly come unraveled. Yami gave a soft cry as the Millennium Puzzle began to glow brightly, returning Yugi to their soul fusion.

Seto felt as though rough winds were buffeting him from all sides. The whole world seemed to be spinning, he could hardly tell which way was up, or which way was down. He did finally find the floor, however, when he collapsed on it. It was almost a relief.

One of the Blue Eyes White Dragon cards was blown off the table, gliding easily away and slipping itself neatly into Seto's deck of cards, as Seto the Dragon similarly vanished from the game. Mokuba too was vanishing; something was trying to return all of Bakura's stolen souls back to their rightful places.

"Oh no you don't…" Bakura growled. Whoever was causing this was going to ruin everything! But Bakura wasn't going to leave this empty handed…

Bakura grabbed the remaining Blue Eyes White Dragon card off the table, keeping a firm grasp on Mokuba's soul and holding it to the card. This would be… something of a consolation prize. Now all he had to do was get out of here before he ended up trapped within the folds of the collapsing pocket of Shadow Realm. With a slight application of power from the Millennium Ring, Bakura dissipated enough of the Shadow Realm magic to slip out into the real world.

_x.x.x_

"The fiend escapes," Kin whispered softly, his gaze on the shadow realm mirror. "And he takes Mokuba."

"Enough," Shiroi groaned, before his brother suggested they fix 'that' as well. Channeling the powers of other Duel Monsters hurt more than he had expected. Collapsing Bakura's web of magics had exhausting him. "We've done enough. They'll have to… deal with the rest on their own."

"I agree…" Gin murmured. "But good job, Shiroi. A little worse for wear, but you're not dead. Congrats."

"Just help me get to my room," Shiroi muttered. He wasn't at all sure he could walk right now. As Kin and Gin helped him back to his room, Shiroi fell asleep before they even got there.

_x.x.x_

Seto was glad when the world stopped shaking and the darkness lifted. He felt groggy, as if waking from an exceptionally deep sleep. Pieces of memory flashes within his mind, and it took him a while before he could actually believe them. It all seemed too fantastic to be real, the odd game he had just been a part of.

But the room itself was a mess, Seto noted as he sat up. Duel Monsters cards had been blown everywhere. Yugi was laying slumped over the table, and Mokuba was laying a little farther away. Seto rose unsteadily, moving to pick up his little brother. Mokuba didn't wake, even when Seto shook him gently. He wouldn't respond to anything.

Yugi groaned softly, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Seto?" he whispered. "What happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Seto murmured. "There was… a duel? And we were… Duel Monsters… or something… And then everything just started shaking and crumbling…" He looked up from trying to revive Mokuba. "How's Yami doing?"

"Mrph," Yugi murmured. "Not happy, but too tired to do anything about it right now. What's with Mokuba?"

"I don't know, I can't wake him up…" Seto frowned worriedly at his brother, then looked around the room. "Where'd Ryou go?"

"I don't- oh, hold on a sec…" Yugi closed his eyes; it was hard holding mental conversations with Yami when trying to talk with Seto. Finally, Yugi opened his eyes. "Yami says that wherever that- err… well, I couldn't understand all of the names that he called Ryou, but he says that wherever Ryou went, he must have taken Mokuba's soul with him. Yami wants to go after him."

"I don't think Yami could even hold himself upright at the moment," Seto muttered, laying Mokuba down on the couch, in what he hoped would be a comfortable position. "And you look pretty wiped out too. Stay here and watch over Mokuba, will you? And keep the door locked until I come back."

"Where are you going?"

"To save Mokuba, where else?" Seto collected the mess of his Duel Monster's cards, then went to find the fiend that had dared to try and steal Mokuba's soul.

_x.x.x_

Bakura held up the Blue Eyes White Dragon card, examining it a little closer. It was a rather nice card, certainly worth enough, considering it was one of only four in the world. He ought to sell it, with Mokuba's soul still trapped inside. It would be amusing watching Seto try to track it down then.

He was feeling perhaps just a touch vindictive after having his Game ruined. But there would be other Games, other chances to snatch the Millennium Puzzle. And when he'd left, the Pharaoh was in terrible shape… he ought to find whoever had wounded him and congratulate them. Or maybe he wouldn't… After all, why not take credit for that as well?

But it was going to be hard avoiding the Pharaoh and his little mortal pals now. He'd have to find a way off this boat before someone came looking for him…

The thought came a moment too late, as the door was forcefully shoved open, and Seto Nishimura stood in the doorway, looking pissed. But no Pharaoh, so Bakura didn't see a need to get worried about it. After all, what danger was a mortal to him?

"What do you want?" Bakura muttered, slipping the card away into a safe place with an easy sleight of hand.

"You did something to Mokuba," Seto accused. "And I want you to fix it. Now."

Amusing as ever, Seto was. Bakura gave him a cheerfully vicious grin. "Yeah? Make me."

"I want a duel," Seto told him, holding out his deck of cards. "I win, you give back Mokuba." Surely with his remaining Blue Eyes, he would be able to beat Bakura-

"No."

Seto blinked at him, taken by surprise. "No? What do you mean, NO? I thought that's how this whole thing worked, an honorable duel-"

Bakura laughed. "Whatever gave you the impression that I cared about _honor_? No, I don't think so. I'm not going to duel, and I'm not going to give back your card, or your brother. And unless you've got a Millennium Item hidden away somewhere, there's _nothing_ you can do about it."

Well. That put Seto at something of a loss. He _thought_ that Bakura would have to accept a challenge to duel… but that seemed to not be the case. He couldn't just physically take the card from someone with the power to steal souls, now could he? And even if he did, what if Yami didn't have the power to restore Mokuba, and only Bakura could do it?

Bakura was having fun watching fury and determination war across Seto's expression. He thought about the card, and Mokuba's soul trapped within it. Valuable, to be sure, but Bakura could think of something worth more…

"Tell you what," Bakura said. "I'm willing to trade."

Seto blinked at him, his eyes narrowing. "Trade? What do you want for it?"

"I keep the card," Bakura said. "But I'll give back your brother's soul… in exchange for yours."

"What?!"

Bakura smirked. "Well, if you don't _want_ your brother back-"

Seto glared at him. "Why the hell would you want _mine_ in return?"

"You're more entertaining," Bakura said with a shrug. "You did come here to save the little dragon, didn't you? I'm willing to give him back. One time only, so hurry it up. I've got things to do."

"Alright, alright!" Seto snapped. If it cost his soul to save his brother… well, it was just worth it. He'd sworn to protect Mokuba from soul stealing freaks, and that's exactly what he planned to do.

Bakura grinned. Now this was going to be fun. "Good choice." He pulled out the Blue Eyes White Dragon card. Bakura's Millennium Ring glowed brightly as he raised its powers, and the card glowed faintly in return, as Mokuba's soul was released from it.

Seto took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for having his soul ripped forcibly from his body. It wasn't really something he thought he'd ever have to prepare for. But when Bakura turned the power of the Millennium Ring on him, all he felt was a slight shiver. When the Ring's glow faded, all he felt was a little colder than before.

Seto blinked at Bakura. "That's it?"

"What'd you want me to do, slice you open or something? I could, if you'd prefer…"

"No! What I meant, is…" Seto took stock of himself. He _seemed_ to be whole. "I'm still awake. When you took Mokuba's soul, he was unconscious."

"Picky, picky." Bakura held up the card, which still glowed faintly. "I have taken your soul, in case you're wondering. I just enjoy watching you fight back. You're a more amusing puppet than your little brother is. Don't get too comfortable. You're _mine_ now."


	14. Kingdom of the Gods

Kingdom of the Gods

_x.x.x_

"You're so tense. It wouldn't hurt as much if you would just relax."

"…"

"You act like you've never done this before. I thought all modern day teenagers experimented with this at some point or another."

"…I don't know who you've been talking to, but I have never experimented with recreational masochism."

"Heh, I've never heard it called _that_ before. But, it's fine by me. It's better with virgin flesh anyway. Goes in so much easier without the buildup of scar tissue to get through. You see?"

"Ow!"

"Don't be a baby. It wasn't even that deep. I'm almost done away… There, finished. You can look now."

Seto Nishimura let out the breath he had been holding, opening his eyes and taking a look at Bakura's handiwork. Cut into the skin on his chest was Bakura's name, written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, and framed by a rather crudely carved cartouche. It was bleeding all down his front, and stung rather badly when Seto used part of a sheet to wipe the blood away.

Seto almost wished that he had been rendered unconscious when Bakura had taken his soul. Because this alternative was most decidedly worse than a blank oblivion. When Bakura told him to do something… it was as if he had no choice but to obey. No amount of willpower could make him do otherwise. So when Bakura had told him to sit still, then produced a pocketknife and began to carve his name in Seto, no amount of pain could make Seto even twitch.

"Is this some sort of fucked up way of marking your territory?" Seto muttered, getting up to rummage around the room's small bathroom for bandages.

Bakura lounged in one of the chairs, his eyes glittering with twisted delight, absently licking away Seto's blood from his knife. "You should thank me for only using your chest for my canvas. My first choice would have been your ass. Every time you tried to sit down and couldn't, you'd think of me. The Pharaoh would get so jealous."

"The Pharaoh?" Seto paused in bandaging over his wounds. "You mean Yami?"

"Is that what he's calling himself these days? Darkness?" Bakura snorted, shaking his head in mild amusement. "He always did have a sense of the dramatic."

Seto decided not to comment that Bakura was even more of a drama-queen than Yami was. After all, you learned to keep your snide remarks to yourself when in the presence of a whacko that currently held possession of your soul. He'd noticed that Bakura had a startling fascination with blood, and he didn't want to give him another chance to cut him up.

"Anyway," Seto finally muttered, having bandaged himself up as best as he could. Reluctantly he left the bathroom, glaring at Bakura before retrieving his shirt from the ground. "Can I go now?"

"Mmm…" Bakura examined him with a critical eye for a moment, before nodding. "Yes, you can go. But don't think you're escaping me. I can find you, wherever you go."

"Uh-huh," Seto muttered, turning to leave.

"Oh! One more thing." Bakura smiled as Seto paused at the doorway. "Don't bother telling your little friends about this. It'll be… ah, our little secret for a while, hmm?"

Seto gave him one last glare, before leaving without another word. Bakura just grinned, lounging in the chair. Perhaps Seto was only a consolation prize, but he was still quite the prize. This had… quite a lot of potential. It may take him a little longer to obtain the Millennium Puzzle, but at least he had a new diversion to entertain himself with in the meantime…

And he was sure Seto would prove to be _very_ entertaining…

_x.x.x_

Seto took his time in finding his way back to Yugi's room. He knew he should be completely furious with the way things had turned out, but mostly he was just tired. He was getting really tired of all this _magic_ mucking up things in his life. Everything was so simple when it was just him, Mokuba and Yugi, with none of this business with the Millennium Puzzle _whatever_ and spirits and freaks stealing peoples' souls. He almost regretted ever meeting Yami. That was when this whole mess had gotten started.

But there was really no use in blaming Yami, Seto decided with a sigh, peering at the room numbers and trying to determine if he was going in the right direction. Things would have been simpler if he hadn't met the spirit. But he _had_ met Yami, and in some weird way, Yami was his friend. And obviously Mokuba really liked Yami as well. That's the way things were, and it was no use wishing they were otherwise.

"Seto?" A soft voice broke him out of his considerations.

Seto groaned, mentally cursing the Powers that Be. Of all the people to be on this ship… it just _had_ to be his own personal rich-boy-brat stalker.

"Noa," Seto muttered, turning to glare at the boy standing behind him. "What are you doing here?"

Noa Kaiba looked absolutely delighted to have found Seto. And before Seto could stop him, Noa had practically tackled him, hugging him tightly.

"Ah! Get off!" Seto growled, shoving Noa away from him. "What is your problem? Why do you keep following me? If I have to get a restraining order, I swear I will…" _Now, if I could only get one of those to keep_ Bakura _away from me…_

"I can't believe it!" Noa said happily. "I've been looking all over the place for you, I just _knew_ you had to be on this ship somewhere."

"Yeah, well, you found me," Seto said. "And in a second, you'll wish you hadn't. Why did you steal those schematics off my desk?"

Noa's eyes widened, and he took a short, retreating step backward. "I, er… didn't mean to…"

"You didn't _mean_ to?!"

"No! I mean," Noa made a nervous dismissive gesture. "I hoped you wouldn't notice. Or maybe you'd forget about it?"

"You're kidding me." Seto groaned, feeling the beginnings of what promised to be a truly brilliant migraine.

"Seto…?" Noa's attentions had diverted, and he was now staring oddly horrified at Seto's shirt. "You're bleeding."

"What?" Seto looked down to where the blood from Bakura's "marking" had seeped through the bandages, and was starting to stain the shirt fabric. "Crap. Look, Noa, I have to go. Just… stay away from me, and maybe I won't throw you overboard, alright?" Seto didn't wait for an answer to that, simply took off running and prayed he would, by sheer luck, somehow find his way back to Yugi's room.

Seto didn't know how he found his way back to the right corridor during his little mad dash, he was just glad that he did. He slowed down a little to count the room numbers, until finally coming across Yugi's. He rested against the door for a moment, catching his breath and wondering _how_ he was supposed to explain the blood on his shirt, before he finally knocked.

"Yugi? It's Seto…"

He'd barely finished speaking when the door flew open, and Mokuba tackled him so hard that Seto fell over.

"Big brother, we were so worried about you!" Mokuba announced, babbling as he held his brother in a death grip. "What happened? What was all of that? Was that really Ryou? Yami says it wasn't, he's almost sure he remembers that guy from somewhere but he's not sure where, but if that's not Ryou then where _is_ Ryou, and- …Seto, you're bleeding."

"I know." Seto was simply relieved that Bakura had been true to his word, and had returned Mokuba's soul. That, at least, was one thing to be grateful for in this whole mess. "Mokuba, you're kinda heavy."

"Oh. Sorry." Mokuba got to his feet, offering Seto a hand up.

"You had us all worried," a deep, slightly breathless voice murmured from the doorway.

Seto frowned at Yami, noting that the spirit looked, well, dead. Like a walking corpse. Yami was pale, and obviously trying very hard to conceal the great amount of pain he was in. "I could say the same for you," Seto said. "What are you doing back out? You're not going to get better if you keep straining yourself."

"I'm not going to get better until I get my soul back from Pegasus," Yami countered. "Besides, Mokuba was really worried about you. I thought I would stay out and wait for you with him."

"I asked him to," Mokuba added softly. "Don't be mad, Seto."

"I'm not mad," Seto said. "Just tired. I need to sit down." He brushed past the both of them, moving into the room and plopping down with relief in one of the overstuffed armchairs. "Yami, you really ought to go back and get some rest."

Yami ignored that, leading Mokuba back inside, closing the door and frowning at Seto. "What did he do to you?" It was more of a demand than a question.

Seto would have liked to tell Yami exactly what had happened with Bakura. Maybe Yami would know a way to fix it. But Bakura had told him to keep it a secret, and so all he managed to say was, "Nothing."

Yami said something in Egyptian that probably translated into "bullshit." "You're bleeding. You weren't when you left. What did he do?"

"Seto, you know you can tell us," Mokuba murmured softly.

"No, I really can't," Seto answered. "Please, don't ask me again."

Yami's eyes narrowed, but he reluctantly let the conversation drop. "We'll find out eventually, you know."

Seto nodded, offering a weak smile. "That's what I'm counting on."

_x.x.x_

Malik smiled in satisfaction as the island came into view. Already he could feel the prying gaze of Pegasus' Millennium Eye on him as the yacht drifted toward the docks. Malik probably could have hidden himself from Pegasus with the use of his own Millennium Item, but he didn't see the need. Let Pegasus know he was coming.

Pegasus was at first surprised to find that he had a few extra guests on the way. Early, no less. After all, the ship bringing the others to Duelist Kingdom wasn't due for several hours. So who was this 'Malik' that approached his island so audaciously? Pegasus mused over that as he casually sifted through Malik's mind with his Millennium Eye.

This Malik wanted something, wanted it with a passion bordering on obsession. And for some reason, he was certain that Pegasus had that something, whatever it was. Pegasus brushed back some of his silver hair, his Millennium powers trying to delve in deeper to the mind of this stranger, to find out what that "something" was.

A great darkness rose up in Malik's mind before Pegasus could get far, however. It was like a second presence, a tainted, maliciously wicked darkness, clawing its way over the link of the Millennium Eye, its evil reaching, stretching across the mental distance.

Pegasus snapped the link closed before that darkness could reach him and infect his own mind. There was definitely more to this Malik than even his Eye could see. He could tell that this tournament would be interesting indeed.

_x.x.x_

"We're here," Ishizu murmured to her brother.

Malik blinked, turning to look at her. He'd been staring off into the distance ever since they had docked, without seeming to really see the place. "Oh, yes. Alright then. This would be your last chance, Ishizu. You don't have to come, you know."

"I know," Ishizu answered gently. "We've already had this discussion. I'm coming. Unless you've changed your mind?"

Malik's dark, wicked smile flashed briefly. "Not a chance." He turned his back on her, moving among his robed followers as they disembarked.

Ishizu sighed and followed after him. It had been worth a try, anyway. A slight shiver passed through her as she set foot on the dock. Three Millennium Items already here, in one place. In a matter of hours, more would be coming. This would prove… interesting.

She looked back over the ocean, silently pleading with the horizon, hoping beyond hope to see the cruise ship come into view. "Hurry, Pharaoh," she whispered. "We will soon have need of you."


	15. Bittersweet part 1

Author's Note: This chapter I dedicate to Dahlia, because Dahlia does the cutest bishoujo-style begging in the entire world.

Love is Sweet, Jealousy is Bitter

_x.x.x_

Pegasus had all the appearances of calm patience as Malik strode into the main guest hall of the castle on Duelist Kingdom. But Malik could sense the burning curiosity that lay beneath that polished façade. Malik hadn't let Pegasus get far enough into his mind to determine his intentions. As far as Malik was concerned, Pegasus was far too quick to use the power of the Millennium Eye. A guy had to have _some_ secrets, after all.

"You know," Pegasus commented after a moment of studying Malik, and the veritable army of Rare Hunters that stood behind him. "I don't believe you were on the guest list."

"We rather invited ourselves," Malik said. Malik closed his eyes briefly. As always, he could feel that dark, warm presence inside of him fighting for complete control. It was always a struggle to keep it on its leash. Malik would give his dark side what it wanted, but only on his own terms. He would not let it control him.

Finally the dark presence quieted and lay still, but Malik could feel it watching warily. Letting out a soft sigh of relief, Malik opened his eyes and smiled blandly at Pegasus. "We don't plan on staying long," he continued, as if the pause had not occurred. "I am simply here to collect something from you."

"Oh?" Pegasus raised an eyebrow, studying Malik. The Millennium Eye flashed slightly, reaching out tendrils of power, though not as much as he would need to read the boy's mind. He was not going to make that mistake again. That dark… _parasite_ inside of Malik would leap on that power immediately. All his Millennium Item could sense at the moment was that desire for _something_, and… apprehension? Fear? Interesting… "And what would that be?"

"You really don't know, do you?" Malik's grin widened, and Pegasus could sense more of that dark presence now. "No, I don't suppose you do. After all, you can't read my mind, can you? You're too… scared."

Pegasus frowned at him, but didn't offer a reply.

_Enough of this,_ whispered that dark presence in Malik's mind, sounding sullen. _You are wasting time. Simply overwhelm him with the Millennium Rod and TAKE it already!_

Malik grit his teeth, willing that dark creature to be silent. He hated it when the thing spoke to him. He always felt like he'd bathed in filth afterward. _You deflect the powers of the Eye,_ he reminded it, _but similarly, he would have protection from the Rod. So shut up and let me take care of this!_

"I know they're here," Malik continued speaking to Pegasus when the dark presence offered no more demands. "I can feel their presence. So kindly hand them over."

"It would help a lot more if you would tell me what you're looking for," Pegasus said.

"The God Cards," Malik said, feeling that dark thing inside him fairly tremble with want. "The three Egyptian God Cards. I know you have them. You made them."

Pegasus blinked. The _God Cards_?! Damn, he'd meant to dispose of those, have the three cards buried in some far, remote location. But he'd completely forgotten, having been busy with the preparations for Duelist Kingdom. They were still here, locked away in his private vault. "Oh, those," Pegasus said slowly, trying not to see shocked at Malik's demand. "What do you want those old things for?"

"I do not have to explain myself to you," Malik all but snarled, that dark thing in him rising in irritated anger. "All you need to know is that I want them. I can… pay you for them."

That made Pegasus chuckle. "Dear boy, does it _look_ like I need whatever amount of money you could offer me?"

Malik growled, clenching the Millennium Rod, which had begun to glow softly.

"No, I wouldn't try that if I were you," Pegasus murmured, glancing that the Malik's Millennium Item. "We would be evenly matched, you and I. Furthermore, I do not think you would have the willpower to control something as powerful as the Egyptian God Cards. You already seem to be battling within yourself. The cards would eat you alive."

Malik was almost speechless at that. Battling within himself? With that dark presence inside of him? No, he had that perfectly in control… most of the time…

"I'll tell you what…" Pegasus drawled thoughtfully. "Prove to me that you can handle the God Cards, and perhaps I will allow you to have them. Everyone I know, myself included, is overwhelmed by their powers. But if _you_ could handle them, well, perhaps they should rightfully belong to you."

"Prove it?" Malik demanded. "Prove it how?"

Pegasus shrugged lightly. "Join my tournament. If you survive it, you'll advance to the final round. And if you win, well, then it would prove I was indeed wrong about you. Win the tournament, and the Egyptian Gods will be your prize."

_Fool!_ hissed that dark presence in Malik's mind. _This could take days. You will debase yourself to play by his rules?!_

Malik frowned, then nodded curtly to Pegasus. "Then I will join your little tournament. And I will win." He turned to leave, seething a little. Yes, he had wanted to have the cards in hand by now, and be on his way home. But he was going to play through this tournament, if only to spite that dark thing inside him. He would teach it not to make demands.

"Wait," Pegasus commanded, standing.

Malik turned to look back at him.

"You'll need this," said Pegasus, tossing a glove to him.

Malik caught it, studying it carefully. A simple reddish glove, with an odd metal cuff at the wrist. The cuff had ten star shaped indents in it, one of which had a golden star already inserted into it. Malik looked at Pegasus questioningly.

Pegasus smiled. "Enjoy the tournament."

_x.x.x_

Seto was a little uncomfortable in such a large crowd of people. Joey had dragged him, Yugi and Mokuba up to the main deck of the boat, where it seemed like ever duelist in Domino had gathered, playing games, trading cards, and trying to talk over one another. Under normal circumstances, it may have been fun. But Seto kept expecting to see one of his stalkers somewhere in the crowds. If Noa showed up, things would be bad enough. If _Bakura_ found him here… Well, Seto didn't really want to think about what new amusement Bakura would come up with.

But an hour passed, and neither showed up. Seto relaxed a little, enough to play a couple of duels with some of the other passengers. His favorite duel so far had been with a boy named Rex Raptor, or something like that. That boy had seemed so surprised when his "ultimate weapon," the Red Eyes Black Dragon, had suddenly come up against Seto's Blue Eyes White Dragon. Rex had almost burst out crying.

Seto finished his duel, standing and looking for his friends. Joey was still having a loud, heated argument with a rather stunning blonde girl who had introduced herself as Mai Valentine. She'd claimed to know her deck so well, that she could psychically predict her cards before she drew them. Joey hadn't believed her, until she'd shown him her little trick. After that, it was like the two couldn't help but piss each other off.

Seto smiled, watching them for a moment. The two were practically made for each other.

Yugi and Mokuba had tired of trying to break up Joey and Mai's arguments, and had moved over to another group where people were trading cards. Seto moved through the crowd to join them.

"Some of these cards are really neat," Yugi said to Seto, after examining a few the other duelists wanted to trade.

"I don't think your deck needs any improvements, Yugi," Seto said. He smiled. "It's at least equal to mine, since you've got a Blue Eyes White Dragon too. Ours are the only two decks in the world to have them." Actually, Seto amended silently, there were three decks in the world that had them. Bakura still possessed the card he'd taken from Seto, the one he had bound Seto's soul to. But he couldn't exactly tell Yugi that part.

"I really hate to tell you," Yugi said, grinning a little, "but I've got something even better than Blue Eyes. You want to see?"

"Better than a Blue Eyes?" Seto said skeptically. "Nothing's better than a Blue Eyes. Except…" He frowned at Yugi.

Yugi grinned. "C'mon, I'll show you." He got up, leading Seto and Mokuba out of the crowded room, to one of the small tables out on the deck. The lights from the window cast a yellow glow on the outside deck, and the full moon above made the ocean gleam with silver. Seto hadn't realized it was so late already.

"Alright, so what's the big secret?" Mokuba demanded, once they were in a quieter area. A few other duelists milled around outside, but it was nowhere near as noisy as inside.

Yugi rifled through his deck for a moment, pulling out five cards. "These," he said, showing them to his companions. Each card was a piece of one of the rarest card sets in all of Duel Monsters, Exodia the Forbidden One.

"Where did you get these?" Seto murmured, staring at the five cards in awe. "I was almost certain these were a legend."

"I don't know where Grandpa got them, but they were part of the deck when he gave it to me. Nobody's been known to assemble all of Exodia in duel before, but if it ever happened, all _three_ of your Blue Eyes wouldn't stand a chance." Yugi smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Seto shrugged. "Like you said, nobody's ever been able to play all five cards at once, so as impressive as those are, I probably don't have anything to worry about."

"Yeah, you're right." Yugi grinned, putting the cards back into his deck, shuffling it. The three of them wandered back inside, where it was more crowded, but also warmer than the outside deck. "But if I could, though, wouldn't that be cool?"

Seto was about to agree that yes, that would be _very_ cool, when he was promptly tackled, for the third time that day, by none other than Noa Kaiba.

"Noa," Seto groaned, from his newly acquired position on the ground. "Don't you have any less violent ways of greeting people?"

"Seto," Noa all but whined as he got to his feet, offering Seto a hand up. "Why did you run away from me earlier?"

Seto ignored the offered help, standing on his own. "I don't know, maybe because I don't like being around you?" He rolled his eyes as Noa happily ignored that, and practically attached himself to Seto's arm, hanging off him like some sort of giggling fan-girl.

It was just no use. There really was no getting rid of Noa. Seto looked to Yugi and Mokuba, to see if they had any ideas. Yugi and Mokuba looked at each other, then shrugged helplessly. They didn't know how to get rid of Noa either.

Well, until Noa's presence became entirely unbearable, Seto resolved to simply ignore the boy, dragging him around like some sort of dead weight. If you just pretended he wasn't there, it really wasn't so bad.

"Come on," Seto said to Yugi and Mokuba, moving through the crowds, ignoring the way Noa trailed along beside him. "Let's go see if Joey's finished trading insults with Mai."

_x.x.x_

Bakura leaned against one of the walls of the crowded room, hidden from sight by the sheer mass of people milling around. He'd found the perfect vantage point from here, hidden in plain sight, but able to keep a close watch on his target.

Originally he'd come up here to keep watch on that boy, Yugi, owner of the Millennium Puzzle. But Yugi, of course, had come with friends. Among those friends was Bakura's newest acquisition, Seto Nishimura. And Seto was fascinating to watch.

Bakura had simply been musing about what more he could do with Seto, when some aquamarine haired nuisance had come along. Bakura had never seen the kid before, but whoever it was, he was following Seto around like a loyal dog, hanging all over him whenever he got the chance. And Seto, he was _permitting_ it.

And that, inexplicably, made Bakura very angry.

Seto knew who he belonged to. And that _boy_, how dare he presume to touch Seto! Bakura had always jealously coveted what belonged to him, and he did not like presumptuous mortals putting their dirty hands on _his things. _

Bakura reached into his pocket, grasping the card he had put there. It felt warm, pulsing gently. The soul trapped within it wanted out. Bakura smiled slightly, his Millennium Ring beginning to glow softly.

_Come here,_ he called, his power reaching through the card, calling to the one it once belonged to. _Come to me._

From across the room, Seto tensed slightly, looking around. His gaze met Bakura's, and Bakura was pleased to see the rush of emotions that flooded through Seto, a touch of fear among them. Bakura smirked gently, then moved through the crowds toward the nearest exit. He could feel Seto watching him all the way.

Bakura stepped out into the cold, glancing up briefly at the moon. Nobody was outside anymore, they had all moved back inside to stay warm. It wasn't too hard for Bakura to find someplace nice and secluded. He leaned against the wall, watching the moon as he waited for his quarry.

About two minutes later, Seto found him there, having made whatever excuses necessary to his friends, and run out to find the fiend that had called him. Already Seto was a little flushed from the cold, his breath fogging lightly as he waited for Bakura to tell him what he'd called him for.

But Bakura said nothing, watching Seto with an inscrutable gaze.

Seto shifted nervously under that gaze, finally asking, "Well? Did you want something? It's really cold out here, and I'd much rather be back- mmph!"

Seto was effectively silenced in mid-sentence when Bakura grabbed him by the collar, pulling him forward and pressing a demanding, possessive kiss to his lips.

Too stunned to speak when Bakura finally released him, Seto could do little more than stare at the fiend. Bakura licked his lips, his wicked grin almost gleaming in the moonlight.

"Say it," Bakura demanded, reaching to lightly pet Seto's cheek, then scratching him very lightly with his fingernails, just enough to feel it.

"Say what?" Seto asked softly. Why was it so hard to find his voice, all of a sudden?

Bakura's eyes flashed as he watched Seto. "That you belong to me."

It was a direct order, and so Seto was unable to disobey it. "I belong to you," he said obediently.

Bakura glowered at him. "You don't really mean that, do you. You don't really _believe_ it."

"No," Seto answered honestly. "I don't." He shrugged. "Sorry."

Bakura said nothing, letting the silence stretch out until he sensed Seto was uncomfortable with it. "I want you to come to me tonight. After everyone else is asleep. I will _make_ you believe it. Make sure you remember it."

"I-…" Seto didn't really have much of a choice. Bakura owned his soul. "Okay," he finally said. "I'll be there."

"I know," Bakura murmured, grinning. "Go back to your friends. They must be missing you terribly."

That too was a direct order, but at least it was one Seto was happy to obey. He wanted out of here, away from Bakura, as far as he could get…

_…until tonight…_

Seto grit his teeth slightly, resolving to not think about that particular command. Maybe if he forgot it, he wouldn't have to obey it? He almost laughed at his own stupidity. As if he had much chance of forgetting _that_.

_x.x.x_


	16. Bittersweet part 2

Love is Sweet, Jealousy is Bitter (part 2)

_x.x.x_

"Shiroi, I have a problem."

"I'll say. In about twenty seconds, I'm going to bite your head off for waking me up in the middle of the night. Even if you _are_ my sister."

Midori huffed, grabbing Shiroi's tail and giving it a hard pull. "Get up, you lazy scaly-ass, this is serious. And it is _not_ the middle of the night, it's almost noon."

"Same difference." Shiroi yawned, glowering at his little sister. "I swear to god, if you tell me you're in labor-"

"It's still too soon for that," Midori said, absentmindedly rubbing her belly. "No, it's not that at all. It's… it's Seto, actually."

Shiroi did a long, leisurely cat-like stretch, before turning his attention to her. "What about him?"

"Well, it's actually more about Bakura. You know, the tomb robber? The one with the Millennium Ring?"

"Yeah, I know him." Shiroi narrowed his ice-blue eyes at her. "Look, I'm certain there's a point in here somewhere, so do you mind getting to it?"

"I need you to talk to him."

"WHAT?" Shiroi grit his teeth, his tail swishing into the wall, leaving a dent where it hit. "Are you entirely psychotic? You know I can't do that. I've been breaking enough rules as it is! For one thing, you know we're not supposed to appear to mortals unless in dire emergencies. For another thing Bakura is _not_ my mortal. My job is to protect Yami. If you need somebody to talk to Bakura, go get _his_ Guardian."

"That's just it!" Midori said. "Bakura doesn't _have_ a Guardian!"

Shiroi paused, blinking at her, then frowning. "What?"

"Well, he's a tomb robber, right? It's a sin to steal from the dead. So his Guardian abandoned him. Standard procedure, when a mortal is… less than worthy of protection."

"All the more reason why I shouldn't go talking to him," Shiroi pointed out.

"Please, Shiroi!" Midori said. "Don't make me beg. You know you can't refuse me when I beg!"

Shiroi glowered at her. "Why me?"

Midori folded her arms. "You said it yourself. You break a lot of rules. One more little thing isn't gonna get you fired. Especially if you get results."

"…and?"

Midori sighed. "And… I already asked Gin, Kin, Hansha, even Slypher and Ra. They all said no."

Shiroi groaned. "Even Ra knows enough to say no to this stupid idea…"

"Actually, Ra said 'poop,' but I think he meant 'no,'" Midori said. "Please, Shiroi? I really, really need you to do this."

"Why?"

"Because Bakura stole Seto's soul! And now he's gonna do something just… _awful_!"

Shiroi paused, looking thoughtful. Midori was right; Shiroi really would break any rules necessary to protect his mortal. But he had his own problems protecting Yami. Seto was supposed to be someone else's problem to deal with. Still… he couldn't just not help someone when they needed him…

"Couldn't you talk to Bakura?" Shiroi finally said.

"I would," Midori said quietly. "But do you really think Bakura would listen to a pregnant woman? He barely listens to his own conscience, why should he listen to me?"

"Why should he listen to _me_?"

Midori smiled her best you'll-do-this-because-you-love-me smile. "Because you're a big scary Blue Eyes White Dragon," she said. "And because he has no Guardian at all to protect him. If he doesn't behave, there's no one in the entire Shadow Realm that would fault you for squashing him like a bug."

Shiroi huffed softly. "You. Owe. Me. BIG."

"Oooh, I just knew you'd say yes!" Midori waved a hand, opening a portal into the mortal realm. "Hurry up now. You don't have much time."

_x.x.x_

Something was wrong. Bakura could feel it even before he opened the door to his room. The pointers dangling from the Millennium Ring clanged together with a soft musical tone, indicating that there was… _something_ waiting on the other side of that door. Something with as much power as a Millennium Item.

Bakura eyed the door warily. Did he really want to bother with whatever was in there? He slowly drew his hand back from the doorknob. In his experience, unknowns were more than likely very dangerous.

But this unknown seemed to already known he was there. Bakura heard the click of the lock, and the door slowly creaked open. It seemed to want to talk to him. Bakura lightly touched the Millennium Ring, letting it reach its powers out into the room, probing the waiting darkness. _Is it powerful?_ Bakura asked the item silently.

_Yes,_ the Millennium Ring indicated.

_Is it dangerous?_ was Bakura's next thought.

_Yes,_ the item answered immediately. After a short pause, it answered again. _No._

Bakura frowned. The Millennium Ring really wasn't the best item to use to test unknowns like this. If he had one of the others, the Millennium Eye, perhaps, he would be able to learn more. He tried a last time, hoping the Ring could at least give him something more to go off before confronting this unknown. _Will it hurt me?_

The little pointers clanged together, giving a mixed, confusing response. The answer was, if Bakura interpreted it correctly, _Not if you behave._

Well, that was probably the best answer he was going to get out of the thing. Bakura pushed the door open further, stepping into the darkness of the room. He flipped the light switch, and the light flared on… for only a brief second, before it made a _pop_ and the room was plunged into darkness once more. The bulb had burned out.

But in that fleeting moment the room had been lit, Bakura caught a glimpse of a coiled form, gleaming white scales, and very angry blue eyes.

"Tomb Robber," greeted a voice in the darkness. It seemed to echo, far more than it should in the tiny room.

Bakura concentrated, calling up golden light from the Millennium Ring, enough to light up the room. Or what was left of the room. The meager furniture floated lazily in space, suspended in the cavernous pocket of Shadow Realm darkness Bakura had unknowingly walked into.

The Blue Eyes White Dragon uncoiled itself from its lounging position, gliding forward toward the tomb robber. Bakura stepped back, expecting to run into the wall, but the wall was no longer behind him. Nothing was behind him any longer, save for the swirl of black and sapphire light of the Shadow Realm.

"What do you want?" Bakura asked, glaring up at the dragon, unable to help but note how very large the beast's mouth was, how easily it could bite him in half.

The dragon's sharp teeth gleamed in the darkness as it grinned, then calmly examined its claws absentmindedly. "Want? I only want to talk to you, little tomb robber. About Seto."

Bakura froze. Seto. Seto, whose soul he had sealed within the Blue Eyes White Dragon card. Of course the dragon was here to talk to him, he had _offended_ it! He hadn't even thought about it, but all the old tales agreed that dragons were ridiculously easy to offend…

"Have you ever heard of the Guardians, little tomb robber?" the dragon continued casually.

"I wasn't aware I had a Guardian," Bakura said.

"You don't," the dragon assured him. "But Seto does. Several, in fact." His soft laughter would have been reassuring, if Bakura wasn't so certain the dragon meant to eat him. "All Blue Eyes White Dragons, of course. You didn't even consider they may be… upset at what you have done, did you?"

Bakura frowned darkly at the dragon. "I am not releasing Seto. He's mine."

The Blue Eyes was silent for a moment. "You think he is yours, do you?" it finally said. "Just because you have stolen his soul, because his body obeys any command you give? You think these things make him yours?"

"Yes," Bakura answered, somewhat confused. "Don't they?"

The dragon chuckled, lowering his head to look Bakura in the eyes. "You know they do not. You can feel it, you are frustrated by it. You want all of Seto, and for some reason, you find you do not have it all."

"What else is there?" Bakura demanded. "His body, his soul, they're _mine_. What else is missing? Why does he continue to defy me, despite all I have taken from him?"

"Because," the dragon said patiently, "his heart is still his own. You may hold his soul, you may command his body, but in his heart, he is free to hate you for it. And so, little tomb robber, you do not own as much as you think."

That was unacceptable, Bakura decided with sudden determination. That Seto could withhold _anything_ from him could simply not be allowed!

"You are the great thief, are you not?" the dragon asked, sounding amused. "Stealing Seto's heart should be a delightful little challenge for you." The Blue Eyes turned, forcing Bakura to duck as its tail swung over his head. The creature sauntered back into the darkness, the Shadow Realm swallowing him up in its folds, so that not a singly gleaming scale could be seen. The energy of the Shadow Realm rippled suddenly, depositing the furniture once again on the floor, as the darkness flowed away like water. Bakura found himself once again standing in the tiny room aboard Pegasus' ship, the moonlight through the window lighting the tiny space.

Bakura rubbed his forehead, trying to forget the dragon and what he had said. Did it even matter that he did not all of Seto, body, soul, _and_ heart?

He remembered his own words to Seto. _"You don't really mean that, do you. You don't really _believe _it."_

_"No," Seto answered honestly. "I don't."_

Yes, Bakura decided. It mattered very much.

_x.x.x_

"You idiot!" Midori snarled at Shiroi the moment he returned. "What the hell were you thinking? I told you to make him release Seto's soul!"

"He will," Shiroi said, smiling in amusement. "When he's ready to."

"I can't believe you," Midori said, leveling a glare at her brother, her icy blue eyes dark with her fury. "What the hell makes you think Bakura is ever going to let Seto go on his own?"

"Because, little sister, the tomb robber is going to fall in love."


	17. Spirit Lovers

Author's Note: Before we begin, I would first of all like to thank all of my readers that are _not_ yaoi fans, and yet still appreciate my story and leave me lovely reviews. I really appreciate you being so open-minded.

And of course, to all my readers that are fans of yaoi, thank you too for reading. Wow, this is the longest story I've written so far, I think by sheer word-count it tops even "Setup." Anyway, I'll stop jabbering now and let you continue with the chapter.

Spirit Lovers

_x.x.x_

The room was dark, the door slightly opened when Seto arrived. Seto stood outside for several minutes, his hand resting on the doorknob. At that moment, there was nothing he wanted more than to run back down the hall the way he had come, run back to his own room and lock the door, to lay in the darkness and listen to the silence broken only by the soft murmurs Mokuba made in his sleep. Seto wanted to pretend he had never, ever laid eyes on Bakura.

Of course, that was complete wishful thinking. Seto had been given a direct order to come here tonight, and no matter how his heart hammered or his mind yelled at him to run, he could not move from this spot. It took every ounce of his will to keep from stepping inside, even for a moment. Even then, his will eventually crumbled in the face of the compelling urge place on his soul, and with a deep breath, Seto pushed the door open and stepped inside.

It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. At first he could only make out shadowy shapes of the furniture, partially lit from the moonlight spilling in through the window. As he walked in farther he looked around, searching the darkness for Bakura. Behind him, the door creaked closed, and he heard the lock click moments before he felt someone's warm breath on the back of his neck.

"So you did come, after all," Bakura whispered, his breath tickling Seto's ear as he spoke.

"You didn't give me much of a choice," Seto said, striving to sound calm and bored, belying how tense he was.

Bakura chuckled, absently brushing Seto's hair away and pressing a soft kiss to his nape. How amusing that such a simple touch could make Seto shudder so! "No," Bakura murmured, "I suppose I didn't give you much of a choice. Given the chance, would you run from me like a frightened animal?"

Damn it, yes, he did want to run, but he would not give Bakura the satisfaction of saying so of his own will. Whatever Bakura wanted from him, he would have to command him to get it. Seto was not going to offer him anything voluntarily.

"You're not afraid of me, are you, Seto?" Bakura asked.

"No," Seto murmured, his own voice sounding strangely hoarse in the dark. "I just don't like you."

"Really now," Bakura murmured, sounding amused. "What's not to like about me?"

"Would you like the list, or was that a rhetorical question?" This was okay. If Seto just kept Bakura talking, maybe Bakura would forget about whatever it was he had planned…

"It's rather a shame that you don't like me…" Bakura commented casually, pressing his thumb against a particularly tense muscle in Seto's shoulder, rubbing in small circles until it began to unknot. "Because I find I am rather fond of you. Never met a mortal quite like you before." He paused when he realized the lie of that statement; he had known a mortal like Seto before. But that had been five thousand years before, and the High Priest was dead now, and so he dismissed the absent thought.

"You don't like me," Seto stated, unwillingly beginning to relax as Bakura worked out the tension in his shoulders. "You just like being able to order me around."

"Are you this disagreeable with everyone, Seto?" Bakura asked. "Alright, yes, if you wish for honesty here, I do rather enjoy that part. But obeying me doesn't have to be such a hardship, you know."

"Are you telling me I ought to enjoy having you boss me around?"

"No, I'm telling you to take your shirt off."

Immediately obedient, Seto began pulling the offending garment off. The last time Bakura had told him to do this, he'd been interested in cutting his name into Seto's skin. Seto didn't think that's what Bakura had in mind this time. He wasn't sure which was worse.

"You're always so tense," Bakura noted, eyeing the smooth skin of Seto's back, the clean line of his spine interrupted at the end by the waistline of Seto's jeans. Seto really did have a nice bottom, Bakura decided. He was glad he'd opted to carve up Seto's chest rather than that feature. "You really ought to relax every now and again."

"For some reason, I don't find your presence very relaxing."

Bakura frowned. Try to be _nice_ to a mortal and they don't even appreciate it. It was tempting to forget all about what that damned dragon told him, settle for owning Seto's body and soul and to _hell_ with how Seto felt about it. But that damned dragon had _teased_ him, flaunted a treasure in front of his face and then told him he could never have it. Bakura hadn't even realized he'd wanted it until the dragon had mentioned it, but now he planned to have it. At any cost.

Seto Nishimura was going to love him whether he liked it or not.

And, Bakura added to himself thoughtfully, it didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun along the way, and still gain all the other treasures he had originally come for.

Bakura gave Seto a gentle push in the direction of the bed. "Lay down."

Seto tried to disobey, really tried, but all the powers that be compelled him forward. Though originally intending to lie on his back, Seto was forced to turn onto his stomach by another of Bakura's casual commands. Seto used one of the pillows to cushion the pressure on the wounds on his chest.

Bakura had to admit, it was fun having Seto as his slave. He wondered if he could keep him forever. Usually he preferred being by himself, without even the presence of the quivering little wimp whose form he had taken as his host. But it might be… satisfying to keep Seto around.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Bakura said, crouching beside Seto on the bed. "You don't have to be so scared."

"I'm not scared."

"You are," Bakura contradicted, smoothing his hands over the smooth planes of Seto's back. "That's why you're so tense. But I can fix that."

Seto said nothing to that, instead distracted by the feel of Bakura's hands. Bakura began at Seto's neck, his hands working loose the knots of tense muscle with as much focused determination as he did with anything else he did. Seto did his very best to remain tense and unapproachable despite Bakura's ministrations, but as Bakura worked down to the shoulders, Seto made a helpless little noise and began to relax into the mattress. And, he found, it was hard to remain scared of someone when they were being so gentle.

"What do you want from me?" Seto finally demanded, trying desperately to recall why he hated Bakura, trying hard to think of _anything_ through the haze of languorousness Bakura's hands were evoking.

"Want? I want you to relax. That's not so very hard, is it?" Bakura ran his fingertip down the line of Seto's spine, delighting in the little shiver Seto gave in response. "You seem to be getting the hang of it."

It would have been easy to lose himself in this warm haze of feelings, it was almost a relief when the stinging of his wounds drew Seto's attention to them. Seto squirmed.

"What's wrong now?" Bakura demanded, frowning. And he'd thought he was doing so well…

"Hurts," Seto muttered, lifting up and lightly touching the bandage taped to his chest.

Oh, right. Bakura had forgotten writing his name on Seto earlier, that probably still stung. He was going to need to distract Seto from that…

"Here, roll over," Bakura said, moving back slightly to give Seto room to maneuver onto his back. "Better?"

Seto stared up at the darkened ceiling for a moment, before glancing at Bakura. "Yeah, better. Thanks." If he didn't think about it too much, he could ignore the pain in his chest. He wasn't sure he wanted to forget it, however. The pain was his reminder that Bakura was still a twisted, disturbed freak, no matter how nice of a backrub he gave.

Bakura frowned, lightly touching Seto's cheek and leaning in to get a better look at his face in the darkness. "You're tense again."

"I am not."

"You are. What the hell does it take to get you to relax?"

"Well, you could try giving me my soul back," Seto commented. "That would be a good start."

"Uh-huh. Nice try." Bakura absently traced his fingertip over the un-bandaged skin of Seto's chest. "I wish you wouldn't worry so much, I said I wouldn't hurt you."

"And that would make me feel a lot better if I believed in even the slightest amount that you could be trusted." Seto whapped Bakura's hand away, lifting himself to sit up and glowering at the fiend. "I haven't forgotten what you tried to do in that little _duel_ of yours, or that you stole my brother's soul and gave it back only in exchange for _mine_, or that you take delight in carving your name in other people's flesh, namely _mine._ I hate to tell you this, but that doesn't inspire much trust in a person."

Bakura was silent a moment. "Would it change your mind if I said I was just misunderstood?"

"No."

"Didn't think so." Bakura huffed slightly, smiling wryly. "You don't give up anything without a fight, do you?"

Seto blinked, then shrugged slowly. "I guess not. Not if I can help it."

Bakura nodded, gently but firmly pressing Seto back onto the mattress. "Hate to say it, but the damned dragon was right. You _are_ something of a delightful challenge."

Dragon? What the hell was Bakura talking about now? "What are you-" Seto never did find out what Bakura meant about the dragon, for suddenly Bakura was kissing him, and he promptly forgot the question.

_Mortals,_ Bakura thought with amusement, _are ridiculously easy to bewilder._

Then again, he remembered, the form he was currently inhabiting was mortal as well. And kissing Seto was… nice. And at last, at last, Seto was relaxing beneath him. It wasn't love, wasn't even trust, but it was a start. And that gave Bakura a rather heady sense of victory.

_What does a damned Blue Eyes White Dragon know about anything, anyway?_ Bakura thought, trailing kisses down the line of Seto's throat, just to hear the way his breath caught. _Seto is practically whimpering for me, and I can make him mine, ALL mine, right now…_

Bakura's fingertips traced fluttery little patterns down Seto's chest, and Seto did nothing to stop, nothing to indicate he even wanted Bakura to stop. But when they ended their trek downward and began toying with the fastenings of Seto's jeans, Seto made a slight noise, catching Bakura's wrist and pulling it away.

"Don't," Seto whispered breathlessly, lifting his head to look at Bakura.

Bakura glowered back at him, but didn't try to pull his hand away from Seto's hold. "I can make you, you know."

"I know." Seto swallowed, laying his head back down and closing his eyes. "Please, don't."

Bakura blew his snowy white bangs out of his face, reluctantly conceding and laying down beside Seto. "Alright."

Seto let out a soft sigh that may have been relief, moving to sit up, but Bakura wrapped an arm around him and held him down.

"Stay here tonight," Bakura commanded softly.

"But-"

"I won't do anything to you," Bakura said. "You may not trust me, but it's true. Go to sleep."

It was a command, and Seto suddenly found he was very tired. It was suddenly far preferable to just curl up and sleep beside this fiend, rather than make his way through the ship's hallways trying to find his own room again.

Bakura listened for a few moments until Seto's breath evened out, watching him sleep. Finally he let out a soft huff, laying back and readying himself to sleep as well. "Goodnight, Seto."

Seto let out a faint, sleepy murmur, and Bakura fell asleep smiling.

_x.x.x_

Mokuba woke up in the darkness, trying to figure out what it was that woke him. He stared at the ceiling for a long while, listening to the soft whispers of the ocean. Finally he sat up, looking around the room. He was wide awake, he knew he'd not be able to get back to sleep for a while.

The moonlight through the window gave a silvery cast to the shadows. Something was… a little off about the room, at it took him a moment to realize what it was. Seto wasn't there.

"Seto?" Mokuba said, climbing out of bed to peer at the discarded sheets on the floor, where Seto had set up his makeshift bed. He padded across the room to check the bathroom; Seto wasn't there either. There was, however, a note taped to the mirror.

_Mokuba,_ the note read, _I couldn't sleep, so I went to the upper deck to look at the stars. I'll be back later. –Seto._

Mokuba smiled faintly; seemed everyone was having a bit of trouble sleeping tonight. He wandered back into the room, sitting down on the bed and staring out the window. Since he couldn't sleep either, maybe he ought to go up and watch the stars with Seto… After a moment's contemplation, Mokuba decided not to; after all the weird stuff that had happened, Seto might want some time to himself.

But Mokuba wasn't too interested in staying in the room by himself. He pulled his coat on over his pajamas, scribbled a note for Seto when he came back, and padded out into the hallway. The hallways were dimly lit, and after all the running around they'd done earlier, Mokuba kind of knew where he was going. Within a few minutes, he found himself standing in front of Yugi's door.

Hoping that Yugi wouldn't be too mad at him for waking him up, Mokuba finally knocked. "Yugi? Can I come in?"

Mokuba heard a few muffled sounds of movement inside, before Yami opened the door, looking concerned. "Mokuba? Is something wrong?"

"No! No," Mokuba hurried to assure him. "It's just… Seto went for a walk, and I didn't want to be by myself… I'm sorry if I woke you up."

Yami shook his head, smiling and allowing Mokuba inside. "I wasn't asleep."

"You either, huh?" Mokuba said. "Seems like nobody can sleep tonight. Did you have a bad dream?"

"No, I was… just thinking," Yami said, closing the door. "I'm afraid Yugi is asleep, if you came to see him. I'd really rather not wake him, he's had a long day."

"If I remember correctly, you've had a hard day also," Mokuba said, frowning at Yami. "Shouldn't you be asleep too? Seto says it hurts you to be out like this more than necessary."

Yami smiled. "Your concern is touching, but I'll be alright…"

"Nuh-uh," Mokuba said, grabbing Yami's arm and pulling him toward the bed. "You need to rest, and I'll make you if I have to."

Amused, Yami allowed Mokuba to pull him toward the bed. "Well, if you insist…" It was rather sweet of Mokuba to tend to him with his childish assertion. And it was something of a relief to climb back into bed and relax.

Mokuba smiled at having Yami comply, and then, on a whim, climbed into bed along with him, curling up against the spirit. Yami wrapped his arms around him, inexplicably pleased to have Mokuba's warm presence beside him.

"Thanks for letting me stay, Yami," Mokuba murmured.

"Thank you for coming," Yami murmured softly. "Goodnight, Mokuba."

"Goodnight, Yami."


	18. Land Ho!

Author's Notes: Okay… so it's only been, what, three months since I updated this last?

Oh, and this chapter has bad language in it. Sorta.

Land Ho

_x.x.x_

Seto lay very still after he'd woken up, listening very carefully to determine if the fiend laying beside him was awake as well. Bakura's breathing was deep and even; Seto relaxed a little at a time, deciding Bakura must still be sleeping. It was pretty early, after all. Barely dawn, if one was to judge by the hazy blue light shining through the window.

Bakura's command had been to "stay here tonight." Well, the night was over, and technically Seto was free to leave. But instead of bolting for the door, Seto lay there quietly and considered whether he wanted to or not. Yes, Bakura's bed was soft and cozy from their shared body warmth. And yes, Bakura had been, dare he even think it, _nice_ to him the night before. Could Bakura, just possibly, be trusted?

No chance in hell.

Scowling at himself for even momentarily thinking of staying, Seto very slowly eased himself out of the bed, trying not to wake his captor. Bakura seemed to be sleeping pretty deeply, hardly even twitching as Seto moved away from him. He looked pretty peaceful like that, curled up onto one side, his white hair spilled across the pillow.

Seto frowned, shaking his head and forcibly willing away any second thoughts. Satisfied that he was going to make a clean escape, Seto grabbed his shirt from where he'd discarded it and quickly hurried out of the room. The door closed behind him with an air of finality, and he let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He took a last look back toward the door, then took off at a run down the hallway back to his own room.

_x.x.x_

Bakura opened his eyes when he heard the door close. Seeing the room was indeed empty, he couldn't quite suppress the surge of disappointment. For a moment there, he was sure Seto had changed his mind, that he would return to the warmth of the bed and worry about running away later, at a more decent hour of the day. But it seemed Bakura hadn't made quite as much progress as he had hoped.

Oh well. Better luck next time, perhaps. Seto could only run as long as Bakura allowed him to.

_x.x.x_

Seto opened the door to his room and looked over its emptiness with disappointment. Mokuba had left a note explaining how he was staying in Yugi's room for the night. Seto crumpled up the little paper in one hand, tossing it into the wastebasket and climbing into the nest of blankets he'd set up as his bed. The sheets were cold around him, and the floor was hard beneath him. Nothing like the warm companion and soft bed he had just left.

It seemed like forever before he found sleep again.

_x.x.x_

Morning.

Yami dimly registered that night had ended as he drifted awake, still half dreaming. He had slept particularly well that night. Long, long ago, Yami had thought that being dead would be a restful existence. Instead, he found it to be a near constant state of insomnia. Perhaps it was just due to his 5,000-year-long nap within the Millennium Puzzle.

But last night he had slept, an easy contented sleep untroubled by dreams or visions (or the occasional need to go to the bathroom, somehow acquired due to his sharing a body with Yugi.) So how was it that last night it had been so easy for him to sleep?

It must have something to do with the warm body curled around him, Yami decided as he slowly came to full wakefulness. Mokuba was still cuddled up against him, his black hair sleep-tousled and strewn in a casual disarray. Yami shifted carefully into a somewhat more sitting-position, running his fingers through Mokuba's hair to feel its surprising softness against his skin. It had been a long time since Yami had allowed anyone so close to him.

It was a pity Mokuba was just a child. Long ago, in Yami's time, a boy Mokuba's age would be considered adult, but times had to be different now. It surprised Yami to identify what he was feeling as disappointment. But 5,000 years was a very long time to be alone.

"Yami?" Mokuba stirred slowly, blinking at him with wide blue eyes still a little hazy from sleep. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I was only thinking…" Yami shook his head, smiling at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

Mokuba shrugged it off, snuggling closer against Yami. "You're really nice to sleep with," he commented. He smiled up at Yami, almost shyly. "Warm and comfortable."

Yami blinked. Was he really so lonely that he was imagining the subtle suggestive undertones in Mokuba's voice? "Er… thanks?" He blinked, realizing how very silly that sounded.

"Do you think… maybe I could stay here tomorrow night too? I… want to be with you." Mokuba's simple question, the look he gave Yami, was filled with an innocent attraction that confirmed Yami's initial fear. He hadn't been imagining it.

"Mokuba…" Yami said, gently easing himself away from the boy. "You know, it's really best if you don't… get too attached to me. You're very young."

Mokuba was silent a moment, then frowned. "And you're thousands of years old, not to mention that you're dead. Isn't it a little too late to worry about age differences?" He sat up, shaking his hair back and smoothing it down to some semblance of normality. "I really like to be with you. You let me stay here last night. You said you liked me." He gave Yami a dark look. "What, did you change your mind or something?"

"Mokuba, I do like you," Yami said. "I don't think you fully understand just what you're asking for. You're-"

"Too young," Mokuba finished for him, glaring. "You think maybe when I'm dead too I'll be old enough for you?" He scooted away from Yami, climbing out of bed and heading for the door.

"Mokuba, I didn't mean it like that."

Mokuba paused in the doorway, his glare full of more anger and hurt than Yami believed him capable of. "Yes, you did."

He slammed the door shut behind him on his way out.

Yami flopped back on the bed, glaring at the ceiling as if it had been the cause of his current problem. His insides twisted in agony from the effort of staying out for so long, and something else inside ached for having to chase that sweet little boy away from him. In his mind, he could feel Yugi waking.

"Yami?"- Yugi asked him quietly. –"You're up early. Is everything alright? You seem agitated."-

Grateful that his host had woken, Yami retreated back into his soul room, allowing Yugi to regain control of the body they shared. –"No,"- Yami replied softly. –"Nothing's wrong. I just need some sleep."-

"Alright then,"- Yugi replied gently. –"You get some rest, I'll take care of things today."-

In his soul room, Yami found a comfortable place to relax, but he knew that sleep would not be coming for him any time soon.

_x.x.x_

"You're _not_ psychic, you just used some cheap trick to pull off that stunt!"

"You keep saying that, Joey. It's been a day. Give it a rest already, will you? I beat you, get over it."

"You cheated somehow!"

"You wish. I'd hardly have to resort to cheating to beat someone who clearly as little skill as you."

"Bitch!"

"Juvenile delinquent!"

"Hussy!"

"Punk!"

"Tramp!"

"_Dog_."

"_Bitch_!"

Mai Valentine flipped a lock of her blonde hair over her shoulder, smirking at him. "You said that one already."

"Did I?" Joey blinked, looking out over the ocean thoughtfully. "Well, it still applies."

"Uh-huh, I'm so sure. Hey, look!" She pointed out over the ocean. "See that on the horizon?"

Joey shielded his eyes from the sun, squinting. There was kind of a fuzzy spot of green in the distance, but it didn't really look like much. "Not really. What is it?"

"The island. That's it." Mai folded her arms, smirking in satisfaction. "That's Duelist Kingdom."


	19. Assorted Mayhem

Author's Note: Welcome everyone, to the anniversary chapter of _The Path Not Taken._ One year ago today, I started writing this story. If I'm lucky, I might be able to finish it before its second anniversary.

_x.x.x_

Assorted Mayhem

_x.x.x_

A dark sentience waited just beyond Malik's conscious acknowledgement. This sinister being had resided within Malik's mind for longer than the boy realized, tricking and manipulating him to get what it wanted. It was stronger than him, more powerful, more in control, and at the moment, it was also very, very pissed off.

The dark mindset called itself Marik, a play off its host's name, and it considered itself to be the dominant consciousness of their little duo. But for some reason recently, Malik had decided he was going to start thinking for himself. Marik was used to using Malik, making suggestions and, when necessary, demands, and his host would carry out his appointed tasks. Malik's new desire for independence was most disturbing. Marik seriously considered using force to enforce his demands, but it would be deeply undesirable to break the boy so late into the game, or worse, lose control and have Malik rebel completely, forcing the dark presence out of his mind completely.

Not that Marik really thought Malik was strong enough to do such a thing, but it would cause something of a setback if he were to try. So he remained quiet, hoping that his host actually did know what he was doing, and planning a great and terrible revenge should Malik happen to fail him.

But even planning revenge could get somewhat dull after a while. Eventually Marik's thoughts began to wander, and it was then that he picked up on… something… coming toward the island. Something powerful.

Eager for the new amusement and possible power that he could exploit, Marik senses reached for the Millennium Rod. He was terribly fond of the Rod; it had always given him a freedom and power that Malik would never have allowed him. In the shadowy world where Marik's presence existed, the power of the Millennium Rod shone with a golden power that called to him.

The Millennium Rod was excited about something. It had taken Marik a long time to accept, but he had finally come to accept that the Millennium Item's had… well, perhaps not personalities, but senses of their own. Marik hovered close to the Millennium Rod's golden light, reaching out tentatively to merge with its power. What was it so excited about?

_More._

The thought thrummed throughout Marik, the Millennium Rod's gleeful cry. _More_ were coming. More what?

_More of Me._

That didn't make any sense. The Millennium Rod was whole; it didn't have any pieces that were missing, that could have gotten lost. After all, it's not like it was the Millennium Puzzle-

_Yes!_

The Millennium Puzzle was coming toward the island! That did account for the growing sense of power Marik felt approaching, and it explained why the Millennium Rod had awakened. The Millennium Items gained in power when several of them were near each other.

Well, what a pleasant surprise this was. The Millennium Puzzle, on its way to the island. Perhaps Malik's decision to wait would be a profitable one after all. If he could take the Millennium Puzzle (and the Eye and Necklace while he was here as well) along with the God Cards, there would be no force on earth with any hope of ever defeating him.

And, so long as he was waiting, he might as well go check out this new, interesting development. The Millennium Rod seemed more than happy to oblige, perhaps even eager, as Marik used its power to reach out across the ocean to touch the mind of his quarry.

There was always a moment of disorientation in such a stretch, before Marik could "wake up" within the consciousness of another. He was lucky in his timing; his temporary host seemed to be distracted with something.

Marik was very good at subtlety, and he settled down slowly so as not to disturb the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle with his presence.

Except… this seemed not to be the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle. There was a faint musical note of little hanging pointers clinking together, before the powers of the Millennium Ring touched Marik.

_Who are you?_

Marik ignored the question, more intrigued by this new twist he had discovered. Not one Millennium Item was sailing toward the island, but two. The Millennium Puzzle, and now as he discovered, the Millennium Ring. This was definitely going to be a fun little trip, after all.

Still moving carefully, Marik opened his himself to the senses of his temporary host. From here it was usually just one more step into overwhelming his host and taking of their mind. But this one wore the Ring, and peaceable though the Ring was, it would not allow him to do such a thing. The Millennium Items could be so damnably loyal sometimes.

So Marik settled back, focusing first on what seemed to have his temporary host so distracted. Seeing what his host could see, Marik found himself looking at… a boy. A very tall boy, standing at the railing of the ship with his back to them, with soft brown hair rumpled slightly from the ocean breeze. This is what had his current host so distracted? Well, at least his host had exceptional taste; the boy had a rather nice ass.

_He does, doesn't he?_ his host responded, having unconsciously picked up on Marik's thought. _Hey, what the-?_

Marik found himself unceremoniously ousted from his current host by a rush of willpower and the barest force from the Millennium Ring. He hovered nearby his now ex-host, momentarily searching for a way back in, before giving up the attempt as futile as the bearer of the Millennium Ring consciously blocked his every try. Marik would have to be more careful the next time he tried infiltrating the mind of someone with a Millennium Item.

Already bored with this one, Marik turned his attentions to the boy with the nice ass, though he could feel the powers of the Millennium Ring somewhere behind him, searching for him. It wouldn't be able to find him if he found another host here. He could always return to Malik, but for the moment, this seemed far more entertaining.

A stab of pain lanced through Marik briefly, startling him from his thoughts. For a moment he thought the Ring had caught him, or perhaps the Eye again searching for him again, but when the pain came a second time, though lesser this time, Marik realized it was coming from none other than the Millennium Rod. What the-?

He tried to question the Rod about it, only to find that… the Rod itself seemed a little distracted. And pulling Marik along with it, in little hesitant tugs. The Rod wanted something. Marik held still, reasserting control on the Item, then trying to determine where it was the Rod had been hoping to go.

The boy with the nice ass?

The Millennium Rod's power thrummed with resentment for the term Marik had referred to the boy with. Marik's consciousness was briefly flooded with images, images of that boy, whirling by at a blinding speed, memories of power and agony and… Ancient Egypt?

Aha. So now it made sense. This boy had once been affiliated with the Millennium Rod. Thousands of years ago, somewhere in another life. And now the Millennium Rod had found its old master again, and wanted to go back to him. As always, the Items were so damnably loyal.

_You want to go back to him?_ Marik demanded of the Rod, annoyed at its attempts at mutiny. _We'll just see how you'll like taking over his mind. You belong to me, and soon enough, he will too._

The boy wore no Millennium Item; it should be a simple thing to take over his mind. But as Marik moved forward to do it, he was jerked back with enough force to make him dizzy. The Rod did not want him to go forward. Loyalty.

Angry now, Marik kept forcing his way forward. He _would_ take over this boy's mind, if only to prove to the Millennium Rod who owned it. It was like slogging through waist-deep sand, Marik trying to force his way forward, and the Millennium Rod trying to drag him back.

_You belong to me, and I'll be damned if I'll give you up to the likes of him,_ Marik snarled at the Millennium Rod. _Now let GO!_

With a final forceful tug, Marik broke free. He paused for a moment, taking a firm hold of the Rod's power. It lay complacent before him; it would obey him as it always had. It wouldn't like it, but it would obey.

Well, it didn't have to like it. Marik turned, determined to take over the mind of that boy, simply on principle now, moving forward swiftly now. And when he was so close he could reach out and touch the boy who was to become his new host… he slammed into a wall.

Marik fell back reeling, before reaching out to try again. He encountered the same wall, glowing around the boy almost possessively. The same golden glow of a Millennium Item. Marik first thought of the Rod, but the Rod seemed as baffled as Marik to have been thwarted in the attempt. Marik traced the trail of power that led from the barrier to its source… none other than the Millennium Ring.

The bearer of the Millennium Ring said nothing to Marik, but the message seemed clear enough, _"Hands off, this one's mine."_

Marik huffed softly to himself. This was getting him nowhere. But it was alright; if Malik could wait to get what he wanted, so could he. Resolved now, Marik allowed the Millennium Rod to return him back to Malik's consciousness, back into his own dark little space. Malik seemed curious as to where Marik had been, but didn't comment on it. It was just as well; Marik wouldn't have told him anyway.

_x.x.x_

Seto stood on the deck of the ship, casually leaning against the railing and watching the approach to the island. So that was Duelist Kingdom, was it? It certainly didn't seem very sinister. But somewhere on that island was a psychopath who had torn Yugi and Yami's souls apart, and now held the pieces hostage. Seto frowned. It seemed like there was an overabundance of psychopaths around lately.

"Hey, Seto!"

Seto looked over as Yugi ran up to him. "Hey, Yugi. How are you feeling?"

Yugi shrugged, leaning against the railing. "Alright for the moment. I'm really not sure about Yami though, he's been really… quiet, I guess. Like he's upset about something but doesn't want to talk about it."

"Yami too?" Seto frowned. "Mokuba's been like that all morning as well. He didn't even want to come out of the room for breakfast this morning."

"Do you think he and Yami had a fight?"

"Maybe." Seto shrugged. "I wouldn't know what about, though. As far as I can tell, Mokuba practically idolizes Yami. Once he figured out he wasn't you, I mean. Perhaps even before that."

Yugi closed his eyes, reaching out a tentative mental poke at Yami. -"Yami? You alright? Did you and Mokuba have a fight?"-

There was a long silence, and Yugi wasn't sure Yami was going to answer him. Finally, Yami said, -"A misunderstanding, perhaps. It's nothing you need to worry about, Yugi."-

"A misunderstanding?"- Yugi asked. -"About what?"-

"It's nothing,"- Yami said again. -"Don't worry about it."-

"But Yami-"-

"I said _drop it_!"-

Yugi was taken aback by Yami's snarled response. -"…I'm sorry, Yami…"-

He heard Yami sigh. -"Forgive me, Yugi. That was uncalled for. It seems I am… not having a very good day. Please, just let me rest."-

Yugi quietly broke the connection and opened his eyes. Finding Seto watching him curiously, Yugi shrugged. "He wouldn't tell me what was wrong. But whatever it is has made him kind of… irritable."

"Mokuba too." Seto shrugged, looking back across the ocean at the island they were approaching. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think Mokuba had a crush on Yami."

Yugi was fairly certain he heard Yami groan.

_x.x.x_

All kind of chaos broke loose when the boat finally docked on the island. As the duelists disembarked, some ran off immediately to explore, and many more milled around with their friends, uncertain of just where to go. The island seemed so much bigger than they had originally thought.

Yugi stood with his friends at the dock, looking around. "So, where to first?"

"There's probably a starting point," Seto said, looking around. "We'll probably hear about the tournament rules first, before the whole things starts. We just have to find- hey, look!" Distracted suddenly, Seto pushed his way through the crowds, running into the forest. Yugi and Mokuba had no choice but to run after him.

When they caught up to him, Seto was standing in a small clearing in the forest, staring up awestruck at a massive, bright colored platform, apparently created for two players to duel at.

"This is it!" Seto breathed out, his voice hushed in admiration.

"What's it?" Yugi asked, blinking at the structure. Sure, it was impressive, but nothing to get so worked up about…

"My design!" Seto said, beaming. "It's all here! Every little detail! I can't wait to see if they really work!"

"You really designed these things, Seto?" Yugi asked. "Was this that design thing you told me Noa had stolen from you?"

"This is it," Seto said, nodding. "I can't believe they're here though. It's one thing to see it on paper, quite another to see it built life-size!"

"Well now," a voice broke into the conversation, sounding both wicked and amused at once. "I knew you were talented, I hadn't realized you were quite the genius as well, Seto."

Seto stiffened as he and the others turned to face the newcomer. Bakura leaned casually against a tree trunk, cloaked in shadows despite the brightness of the afternoon.

"You!" Yugi glowered, his violet eyes turning crimson as Yami emerged. "What are you doing here? How dare you show your face here!"

"Relax, Pharaoh," Bakura replied smoothly. "Or should I call you Yami, now? I'm not here to duel, or to cause any harm at all, really. I was just hoping to join your little group here."

"Join our group?" Mokuba asked. "No way! You're the one that trapped us inside cards and made us duel against each other!"

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Bakura's grin suggested he didn't feel sorry about it at all. His gaze flickered to Seto. "What about you, Seto? You'll allow me to come along, won't you?"

Seto grit his teeth together. "Is that a direct command?"

"Nope." Bakura folded his arms. "But it will be, if it comes to that."

"What are you talking about?" Yami looked at Seto, then back at Bakura, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "You did something to him, didn't you? I _knew_ you did!"

"You're the one that made Seto bleed!" Mokuba yelled at Bakura. "You're a bad person!"

"Indeed I am, if you want to put it that way, little dragon," Bakura said. He looked again to Seto. "I missed you when you left me this morning. You didn't even say goodbye."

"Would one of you please tell me what you're talking about!" Mokuba broke in.

Bakura grinned, pulling a Duel Monster's card out of his pocket. Seto's heart lurched at the sight of his Blue Eyes White Dragon card, the very one that held his soul trapped within it.

"Hey, that's Seto's card!" Mokuba said.

"Oh, it is more than that, little dragon," Bakura murmured. "Far more. This card holds Seto's soul."

"You…" Yami glared hatred at Bakura. "You took his _soul_?"

"He gave it to me," Bakura said. "In exchange for the return of his precious brother's soul. I rather think I got the better end of the bargain, though."

Mokuba and Yami both looked at Seto. Seto sighed, shrugging. "I didn't have a lot of options at the time."

"So," Bakura said. "Do I get to come along, or what?"

"No," Yami growled at him. "If you think we'll simply allow you to come along with us like nothing is wrong, then you are sorely mistaken."

"That's a shame," Bakura said. He moved out of the shadows, approaching Yami. Yami did not back down, glaring up at Bakura as he neared.

"Perhaps I should just take Seto along with me, then," Bakura continued. "Or perhaps I'll just challenge you to another duel? You were in sad shape the last time, Pharaoh, I felt sure you would simply pass out there on the table. If I come along on this trip, I'm willing to be civil for the time, but don't think for a minute that I wouldn't love to see the life drain from your eyes, your very spirit laying battered and broken before me-"

"Don't talk to Yami that way!" Mokuba interrupted, pushing Bakura away from Yami. He glared up at Bakura, who seemed more amused than anything at Mokuba. "If you want to come with us, you have to _promise_ to be nice. And not to hurt Seto anymore!"

"Little dragon, hurting Seto is no where _near_ my intention," Bakura purred.

"Mokuba, we don't have to let him come," Yami put in quietly.

Mokuba shrugged, not looking at Yami. "It's like Seto said; we don't have a lot of options. Besides," he frowned at Bakura, "I want to keep an eye on him."


	20. Millennium Hearts

Author's Notes: Twenty chapters. _Twenty chapters!_ Can you believe it? I've never written a fanfiction this long before. But I guess this is what I get when I try rewriting an entire series, huh?

_x.x.x _

Millennium Hearts

_x.x.x _

Fireworks bloomed in the sky, giant bursts of color unfolding like dazzling flowers against the bright blue above. The gathered crowd of duelists watched with awe at the display, before dispersing off to the various places on the island. The tournament had begun.

Yugi and his friends were oddly subdued as the festivities began. Yami had returned to his soul room upon Yugi and Seto's insistence. Mokuba tagged along beside Yugi, staring at the ground most of the time and looking much like a kicked puppy. Seto hung back a little, every so often glancing over at the fiend that followed him. Bakura looked to be perfectly happy.

Finally deciding that he needed some answers, Seto waited until Yugi and Mokuba were a little further ahead of him, before he turned to Bakura. "Why are you coming along with us? I thought you wanted to keep our little… situation a secret. What, you decided you needed to start bothering me in broad daylight now?"

Bakura's usual wicked smile barely faltered. "I came to protect you."

"Protect me?" That was _not_ the answer Seto had been expecting. "Protect me from what? The only thing I need protecting from is you."

"Yeah, that's what I thought originally, too. But as it turns out, I'm the lesser of two evils." Bakura frowned. "I'm not too used to being the lesser of anything, but that's the way it goes. I may have taken your soul, but at least I haven't hurt you."

"I beg to differ. I'm going to have the scars to prove otherwise."

"Okay, besides that one time. But when we were on the boat, I sensed something with… far more sinister intentions than mine. With a lot of power to back it up. And it seemed pretty interested in you."

Seto groaned. "You know, when I get home, I'm never going to leave the house again. Why is it that everywhere I go, people start stalking me?"

Bakura grinned at him. "Just lucky, I guess."

"That's not funny." Seto glared at Bakura.

"Hey!" Yugi called back at them. "Hurry up, you two! I found Joey!"

"We'll be right there!" Seto called back. He turned back to Bakura. "The next time you feel like trying to protect me, don't. Nothing could possibly be any worse than you." He sprinted up ahead to catch up with Yugi and Mokuba.

Bakura stared at his back for a moment, before shaking his head. "If only that were true." He hurried to catch up with the group as well.

_x.x.x_

"If the circumstances were different, this would almost be funny," Midori commented, tracing her white-painted nails lightly over the images gleaming in the shadow realm mirror. "Seto could be the most popular boy in his school, if he chose to be."

"It's amazing what lengths people will go to for a pair of beautiful blue eyes," Shiroi said. "It's a pity Seto doesn't care anything about popularity. He could really use it to his advantage."

"The way it's going now, he'll be lucky just to survive it all. This is getting really serious, Shiroi. What am I supposed to do about Bakura and Marik? Noa was just annoying, but it's getting dangerous with these holders of the Millennium Items getting mixed up into it." Midori frowned, tugging on a stray lock of her snowy white hair.

"You two," a new voice broke into the conversation. A beautiful woman with jet black hair and gleaming red eyes walked into the viewing chamber and flopped down on the pile of pillows next to Shiroi. "Really, your matchmaking skills leave a lot to be desired. You're kind of making a muddled mess of everything, don't you think?"

"If you're not going to say anything constructive, Ruby, you can just leave. I don't see you pulling off any miracles with _your_ mortal," Shiroi snapped at her.

Ruby laughed, playfully tossing back her hair. "Then you haven't been paying attention, have you? I just had a nice little chat with Harpy Lady and Orgoth the Relentless. They were most agreeable to my plan. Joey Wheeler is very lucky to have me for his Guardian, instead of some clumsy Blue Eyes White Dragons. I wouldn't even be surprised at all if Joey won this little tournament game, either."

"What!" Shiroi leapt up, glowing at Ruby. "You know that Yami has to win this tournament. He and Yugi will die if he doesn't!"

"I agree," Midori said. "As much as I would like to see Seto win this, it is critical that Yami prevails. Not only for his own and Yugi's sake, but for the world's as well."

Ruby shrugged gracefully. "That's hardly my problem, now is it? They're not _my_ mortals."

"Keep talking," Shiroi growled, "and in a minute you'll be a Red Eyes Black _Stain_ on the floor."

Ruby's crimson eyes flashed, and she bared her sharp, gleaming white teeth. "I'd like to see you try it-"

"Shiroi!" Hansha called breathlessly as he ran into the room. "You have to come quickly. Yami's condition is getting worse."

Shiroi shot a last glare at Ruby. "I'll kill you later," he promised, then ran to join Hansha and Yami's other Guardians.

Midori rolled her eyes, turning back to the scene in the mirror. She ran her finger over the image of the Tomb Robber Bakura. "We'll just see who kills who, here."

_x.x.x_

"Hey, Yuug! There you are, we've been looking for you everywhere!" Joey called as Yugi and his friends approached. "I didn't think this place would be so crowded."

"Yeah, it's really turning into a big event," Yugi said, smiling a little more cheerfully than he felt. He looked past Joey at the two people standing behind him. "Who are your friends there?"

"Oh yeah!" Joey gestured to the girl and boy he was with. "You already met Mai Valentine, right?"

"Oh yes, you were sure she had cheated on that little mind-reading trick she was doing," Seto said.

"She _did_ cheat." Joey glared at Mai, though it held no real anger. "I just have to figure out how she did it."

Mai laughed, flipping her hair back and patting Joey on the shoulder. "He knows my talent in genuine, he just doesn't want to admit it."

Joey ignored that, and introduced his other companion, a somewhat tanned boy with long black hair and bright green eyes. "And this is Duke Devlin. He's a pain in the ass too, but he insists on following us for some reason."

"Insists?" Duke demanded. "You were the one that asked me to come! And I wouldn't have, if this lovely lady hadn't asked so nicely as well." He grinned at Mai, who laughed with delight at his silly flirting.

"Well, it's nice to see you made some new friends," Yugi said.

Joey laughed, shrugging. "Yeah. They're jerks, but… they're mine."

"Hey!" both Mai and Duke protested at that.

"What?" Joey asked. "You are."

"Well… if you want to put it that way, I guess…" Mai hedged.

"Until we find something better to do…" Duke added.

Bakura laughed, folding his arms and smirking at Joey. "Seems like you've been rather busy on this trip, haven't you?"

Joey flushed and glowered at Bakura. "It's not like _that_-!"

"Oh really? It sounds like it's exactly like that," Bakura said. "And if you're all done standing around like morons, isn't there a tournament you're supposed to be playing in right about now?"

The group reluctantly started out again. Joey walked alongside Yugi, glancing back now and again at Bakura. "Hey Yuug… is it just me, or is Ryou acting _really_ strange?"

Yugi sighed, shaking his head. "Joey… you have _no_ idea…"


	21. In the Shadow of the Castle

_x.x.x._

In the Shadow of the Castle

_x.x.x._

_"Yami?"_ Yugi's voice whispered through the darkness of Yami's soul room. The child had been calling his name for several minutes now, with increasing worry, and Yami was trying very hard to gather enough strength to answer him.

Yami's soul room was a twisted mess of corridors and rooms and stairs, seemingly defying all logic and at least twelve major laws of physics. Yami lay on the floor (or perhaps it was the ceiling; he couldn't really tell anymore) and stared up through the many hidden mysteries of his own soul, listening to Yugi's voice.

The pain was getting worse. It had been increasing steadily for a while now, and Yami had said nothing of it. He didn't want to worry Yugi or Seto or… Mokuba. Mokuba, that poor boy. Yami regretted what had been said the last time he had talked to Mokuba. He hadn't meant to hurt Mokuba's feelings, but he couldn't have allowed him to get his hopes up. Mokuba was young yet, and deserved far more than the love of a ghost.

_"Yami!"_ Yugi called again desperately. _"Yami, please answer me! Are you all right? Are you still there?"_

Yami took a deep breath, shuddering at the wracking pain that filled him. "I'm alright, Yugi," he lied, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. "Don't worry about me."

_"Oh, thank goodness!"_ Yugi exclaimed with obvious relief. _"You were quiet so long, I thought you were-"_ He trailed off, not wanting to even mention what he had thought had happened.

"I'm alright," Yami murmured again. "Concentrate on your duel. You'll lose your advantage if you don't pay attention."

_"Oh, right!"_

Yami let out a sigh as Yugi's attention was diverted back to the duel the boy was currently playing. Yami had only been paying scant attention to it; Yugi's opponent seemed to have something of a fetish for insects, and rather looked like a bug himself. Yami had given encouragement and suggestions at the beginning, and had trailed off as the pain worsened. It seemed Yugi was still doing alright on his own, though.

"Pharaoh?" a quiet voice broke in on his musing.

Yami's eyes flew open, startled to find someone else was in his soul room. His visitor wore purple robes, an almost exact matching color to his long violet hair. His pale blue eyes were worried. He looked like the little portrait picture on Yugi's favorite card. The Dark Magician? What was a duel monster doing in his soul room?

"Who're you?" Yami muttered, struggling into a sitting position. A sharp pain lanced up his sides, and he curled forward, willing the thrumming pain to stop.

"Pharaoh, you must try to remember. My name is Hansha, I am one of your Guardians."

"Guardians?" Yami's eyes widened as he remembered the legend of the Guardians, a fairy tale that children were told long in the past to help them sleep. When a person was alive, a Guardian would watch over them. And when that person died, their Guardian led them to the Other Side. "Go away. I'm _not_ dead yet."

"I know," Hansha murmured, approaching. "I'm here to keep you from dying. You must try to hold on, Pharaoh. You are still needed."

"What do you think I've been _doing_?" Yami demanded.

"Listen," Hansha said urgently. "You are fading much faster than your partner Yugi is. You're going to need help if you're to survive long enough to face Pegasus."

"I have help," Yami said. "Yugi and Seto…"

"They are good friends, and they will help you a great deal. But you're going to need more than that. You are familiar, I believe, with the one that bears the Millennium Ring?"

"_Him?_ I have to ask _him_ for help?" Yami growled. "I think perhaps I'd rather die."

"Dying is not an option, I'm afraid," Hansha murmured. "And yes, somehow you will have to convince this Tomb Robber to give you strength. There are others on the island as well… other holders of Millennium Items. You will need their help, but do not trust them."

Yami frowned. "I still think I'd rather die."

"Focus, Pharaoh!" Hansha snapped at him. "Yugi and Seto need you. And Mokuba needs you."

"Mokuba?" Yami sighed and shook his head. "The other two, maybe. But Mokuba I think would be better off without me around. He's an impressionable child, and already he's getting these ideas…"

"He's not such a child," Hansha murmured. "I think you may have noticed that. I think perhaps you may need his help most of all."

_x.x.x_

Night would be falling soon. Already the sky was turning soft shades of red and orange and pink, preludes to the majestic sunset that was to come. Malik sat high in a sturdy tree, watching the sky change colors. This was one of his favorite times of the day, when the whole world was repainted in jewel-toned colors. He'd spent so much of his childhood never seeing a sunset or sunrise. He wondered perhaps that if he had, the bright lights of the outside world would have chased out the darkness that was festering within him.

Ishizu did the best she could to protect him from this… other side of himself. But Ishizu had always been such a sweet, passive creature. Even as a child, if Malik begged her had enough for something, she would in the end consent. She would never be able to stop him. As much as Malik wished she would.

_"They're here,"_ whispered the dark voice within him, making Malik tremble. _"They're here on the island now. The Millennium Ring, and the Millennium Puzzle."_

"They aren't what we came for," Malik softly reminded that eager, dark voice. "We're here for the god cards. And we'll get them." He looked down at the glove he wore, its metal cuff already boasting two new stars that he had won that morning.

_"It is no longer enough!"_ snarled that dark presence. _"I want the Millennium Items. Find them. Get them for me."_

Malik took a deep breath. For a long time he had wanted to disobey his dark self's commands, but he had never dared… "I… I don't want to."

_"WHAT!"_

Pain overwhelmed Malik, a sharp shooting pain that began in his head and in his heart, quickly spreading throughout his body. He let out a cry, losing his balance on the tree branch and tumbling to the ground. He hit several other branches along the way, landing with a heavy blow that he was sure snapped a bone or two.

_"Now you listen to me, you ungrateful sack of shit,"_ snarled the voice in Malik's head. _"I'm the one in charge here. If I tell you to jump, you jump. If I tell you I want the Millennium Items, you get them for me. IS THAT CLEAR!"_

Malik groaned, staring up at the patches of jewel-colored sky shining through the tree branches. "Yes… Master."

_x.x.x_

Ryou didn't know how long he had been in this place. He supposed it wasn't such a bad place to be, on the whole. It was quiet, comfortable and warm. Dark mists of sapphire light danced around him, embracing him in sympathetic caresses. He didn't remember much of how he got here, but he wasn't too concerned about leaving. If he left, that… thing would be out there. That dark voice inside his mind that said horrible things to him, and sometimes stole control over Ryou's body. It was the dark thing that sent him here, but Ryou didn't mind so much anymore. Sometimes he felt that he could lay down here in the mists and sleep forever.

A shaft of light pierced through the purple mists, illuminating Ryou. He shielded his eyes from its sudden brightness, peering hard at the figure that approached. Though he could barely make out the form, Ryou did recognize the voice of the dark thing.

_"You,"_ Bakura said quietly. "I need your help with something."


	22. Give and Take

Author's Notes: It seems I have once again been inspired to work on this story. Once upon a time, I could update a story every day until it was done. Since I can't seem to manage that anymore, would everybody be okay with a couple times a week? I'm trying, really I am…

_x.x.x_

Give and Take

_x.x.x_

To be honest, Bakura had never planned on letting Ryou out of the card that he had trapped his soul within. It seemed like a perfectly good idea for getting rid of the softhearted boy, so that Bakura could maintain total control over Ryou's form. And he didn't really like having to ask for Ryou's help, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made in order to get what you wanted.

"_So let me make sure I understand this_," Ryou murmured in Bakura's mind, seeing through his eyes as Bakura observed his little group of companions. "_Yugi has the spirit of an ancient king living inside his mind. You and this Pharaoh Yami aren't on particularly good terms, due to a little problem with you trying to destroy him and steal his Millennium Puzzle_."

"_Something like that_," Bakura said.

"_And then there's this Seto Nishimura whose soul you originally stole in order to use it as leverage over Yami_," Ryou continued. "_And now you want to make Seto fall in love with you for… some reason I don't understand yet… only it's not going so well. So you let me out of the card in order to help you? If you don't mind my saying so, this isn't a situation I ever expected to find myself in._"

"_So are you going to help or aren't you?_" Bakura demanded.

"_That depends,_" Ryou said slowly. "_Are you going to put me back into that card when I'm done?_"

"_No, of course not._"

"_Or into any OTHER objects, either?_"

Dang. Ryou was getting better at this negotiation stuff. A pity, it would have been interesting to see how Ryou felt about being banished into a toilet seat. "_Alright, alright. I won't trap you in a card, or any other objects, either. Any other conditions?_"

"_Is it too much to ask to have my body back every once in a while?_"

"_Yes._"

Ryou sighed. "_Guess that was too much to hope for. Alright then, promise not to feed me to any duel monsters either, and you've got yourself a deal._"

"_You mortals are far too concerned with your self preservation sometimes._"

"_You were thinking about it, weren't you! First chance you got, you were going to give me to a Man-Eater Bug or something equally as noxious. Admit it!_"

"_Alright, fine. Yes, I was thinking about it. Having your help had better be worth it, Ryou. I'm sure if I had to, I could find some very interesting loopholes in this contract,_" Bakura said.

"_Okay, well. The first thing you have to do is-_"

"Tomb Robber." Yami's voice interrupted Bakura's silent conversation.

Bakura blinked at Yami, a little surprised the Pharaoh was talking to him at all. Since Bakura had joined the little group, Yami had been making it a point to ignore him. What could the Pharaoh want from him now? "If you've come to beg for me to release Seto's soul, then save your breath, Pharaoh. The answer is still no."

"_You know, he doesn't look very good,_" Ryou murmured quietly in Bakura's mind. "_Kind of sick, really. What did you do to him?_"

"_Hey, wasn't me,_" Bakura answered Ryou silently. "_It's nice handiwork though, isn't it?_"

Ryou's huff of exasperation was his only reply.

"That's not what I'm here to ask, though I still wish you would reconsider your answer," Yami said. "No, I…" He took a deep breath, as if it were some great hardship to ask this of Bakura. "…I need your help."

Bakura's sudden laughter startled some of the others as they set up their camping ground in the little clearing. Several paused to watch the little exchange, while trying not to make it obvious that they were doing so.

"_My_ help?" Bakura laughed. "I sure hope you choked a little on that pride of yours when you swallowed it. What do you need my help with?"

Yami folded his arms and glared at Bakura, considering whether he was even going to bother asking for Bakura's help now. Still, as the Dark Magician had said, he didn't have much of a choice. "You may not have noticed this, Tomb Robber, but… I'm dying."

The amused look never faltered on Bakura's face. "_You_ may not have noticed this, Pharaoh, but you and I are already dead. It's a little late to start worrying about your mortality or lack thereof."

"If my death 5,000 years ago was all there was to it, I would not be concerned," Yami said. "What is going on now is far worse than what happened back then. Pegasus, holder of the Millennium Eye, has taken a rather large piece of Yugi's soul as well as my own. If they are not returned, we shall not die so much as cease to exist completely. It will be as if we never were. No spirits, no afterlife, nothing. We'll just be… gone."

Bakura shrugged. "Hey, even better. Saves me a lot of trouble, really."

Yami's eyes narrowed. "I knew you wouldn't help." He turned to walk away.

Bakura shook his head, still chuckling over the Pharaoh's dilemma, and turned to go the opposite way. Seto stood there, having obviously been listening to the conversation. His expression was that of loathing as he looked at Bakura.

"_You ought to help Yami out,_" Ryou commented suddenly in Bakura's mind.

"_What?_" Bakura demanded. "_Why? You know I hate him, why should I give a damn whether he's going to spiritually disintegrate or not?_"

"_Because Yami is Seto's friend_," Ryou said. "_And if you help Seto's friends, then Seto will know you're really not all bad. And he will be very grateful, too._"

Bakura muttered something foul in Egyptian, then turned back toward Yami. "Hey Pharaoh! What do I have to do?"

Yami froze, a little startled by Bakura's question. He turned back to him, looking puzzled. "You're going to help me?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't rub it in," Bakura muttered. "I just figure the Millennium Puzzle will be a little useless if you're not around. So what do I have to do?"

"I need the power of the Millennium Ring to sustain me," Yami said slowly. "And I'll need a lot of it. I can't promise there will be much left for you to work with… Enough to sustain you of course, but probably not much more than that. So there wouldn't be any more calling up Shadow Realm, or trapping more people's souls into cards."

Bakura grit his teeth. "And this would be only temporary, wouldn't it?"

"Until I get my soul back," Yami said. "Or found other holders of Millennium Items to donate their energy."

"_Do I really have to do this?_" Bakura silently demanded of Ryou. "_The Pharaoh is asking for much more than I'm willing to give._"

"_You don't have to,_" Ryou said reasonably. "_But if Yami dies, Seto won't only blame Pegasus, he'll blame you too. And it's really hard for people to love someone that killed their friends…_"

"Alright, fine," Bakura said aloud. "So Pharaoh, you have any idea how to do this energy transfer thing?"

Yami looked at him blankly.

Bakura groaned. "I'm guessing that's a 'no.' Damn. I guess there's no use wishing we had a High Priest around…"

"You'll need to stand in moonlight," Seto interrupted suddenly.

Both Bakura and Yami turned to look at him. Seto had a very curious expression on his face, a little inspired and a little bewildered.

"What?" Bakura finally managed to ask.

Seto shrugged helplessly. "It works better in moonlight," he said. "You have to stand in moonlight with your hands out to the other person and palms pressed together…" He rubbed his forehead, looking confused. "There's a chant too, but I don't understand most of it…"

"How do you know that?" Yami asked.

"I don't _know_," Seto said, almost upset. "It's like… I can see how it's supposed to work, but I don't know 'why' I know… Maybe I read it in a book or something once."

"Yeahh… maybe…" Bakura said slowly. "Well, if we need moonlight for this, let's go find some. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can pretend it never happened."

"Works for me…" Yami muttered, leading the way into the woods. He remembered there was a cliff side somewhere nearby, and if the moon was out by now, it should be a likely enough spot.

It was bad enough he's had to ask the Tomb Robber for help. What was worse was he didn't know why the Tomb Robber had _agreed_. Bakura had already made it clear that he would love to watch Yami disappear out of existence… so why had he suddenly decided he was going to help out? The Millennium Puzzle couldn't be the only reason he'd agreed…

More confusing than that was Seto's sudden knowledge of how to perform the obscure ceremony. Hansha hadn't said anything about how Bakura was supposed to transfer the powers of the Millennium Ring to him. Yami had simply assumed the omission was because Bakura would already know how to do it. Clearly, the Tomb Robber did not. Had Hansha not said anything because he knew 'Seto' would know it? Why would Seto know it? He hadn't known anything of the Millennium Items before he met Yami…

"Hey Pharaoh, wake up," Bakura's voice interrupted his thoughts. "We're here."

The forest had dwindled, and the cliff's edge was bare save for a few shrubs growing in small clumps. The moon was newly risen, hovering just above the horizon, gleaming almost golden in the darkness. It provided just enough light to see each other by.

"Alright, so how do we do this again?" Bakura asked, looking over at Seto.

Seto frowned thoughtfully. "Okay. You have to extend your hands out toward Yami and press your palms against his." As Yami and Bakura did as they were told, Seto found a branch and started scratching a circle in the dirt around the two of them. That completed, Seto tossed the branch away and surveyed his handiwork. "Okay, let's see… The chant went something like…"

Seto paused, then began the chant in a soft, singsong sort of voice. Both Yami and Bakura were somewhat startled to hear Seto speaking Ancient Egyptian, not only speaking it but pronouncing it fluently. The circle in the dirt began to glow the golden color of the moon, and both the Millennium Puzzle and the Millennium Ring soon began to glow as well. As Seto's voice gained strength in the chant, the glowing light grew as well.

Bakura could feel the powers of the Millennium Ring draining away from the Item, and the Ring's glowing light dimmed slowly as the Puzzle's light brightened. It was almost painful for Bakura to give away what he held so precious to him, and for a moment he was confused as to just _why_ he was doing this. He certainly wasn't doing this for Yami, but he _was_ doing this for Seto. Since when could one mere mortal make him do anything he didn't want to?

Bakura was still wondering about that when Seto ended the chant, and both Millennium Items went dark. Even in the darkness, Yami's condition seemed greatly improved. Bakura was feeling a little dizzy from it.

"I guess we'd better be getting back," Yami finally said. "The others have probably finished setting up camp." He watched Bakura for a long moment, before inclining his head slightly in respect. "Thank you."

Bakura waved it away. "Whatever." He took a few steps back toward the woods, then stumbled slightly with dizzy lightheadedness.

Seto caught him before he could fall and helped him right himself. Bakura blinked at him in surprise, but Seto wouldn't meet his gaze.

"We should get going," Seto finally said. "Mokuba's probably worried about us." He let Bakura go, but stayed close as they walked in case Bakura should trip again.

"_See?_" Ryou said to Bakura proudly. "_I told you so._"


	23. Rock and a Hard Place

_x.x.x_

Rock and a Hard Place

_x.x.x_

The trip back to the camp was made in silence. When they reached their clearing, they found Duke Devlin making a little fire in the fire pit, while everyone else gathered around it for warmth. Mokuba smiled and quickly hurried over as Seto, Yami and Bakura returned.

"Is everything okay?" Mokuba demanded. "You three went off in kind of a hurry." His gaze finally rested on Yami. "Are you doing alright?"

Yami smiled faintly at the worry in Mokuba's tone. "I'm alright now. Seto and… the Tomb Robber helped me."

"I have a name, you know, Pharaoh," Bakura muttered. "It's Bakura. You don't have to keep calling me Tomb Robber."

"And you don't have to keep calling me Pharaoh either, yet you seem to take some sort of amusement from it," Yami said. "I found it only fair to return the favor."

"Hey guys," Joey called from over by the fire. "Now that you're here, we've got a problem. There are only three sleeping bags, and there are seven of us."

"I thought there would be some sort of five star hotel on this island somewhere!" Mai said. "Pegasus sent a cruise ship, I figured he'd also be providing room service and maids. Cheapskate."

"I'm willing to be room service," Duke said, "but Joey will have to be the maid. He'd look much better in the outfit, anyway."

"Oh, he would!" Mai said with delight. "With a short little black skirt and a feather duster… you'd be so _cute_, Joey!"

"You know what, forget I said anything," Joey grumbled. "You two are welcome to sleep in the dirt for all I care."

Bakura strode past the fire, grabbing one of the three sleeping bags. "I'll share with Seto."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Mokuba protested. "You can't just decide that, without even asking him."

"I don't have to ask," Bakura said. He grinned at Seto. "You'll say yes, won't you?"

Seto raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, not saying anything at all.

Seto's silence didn't bother Bakura in the least. After all, he knew exactly how to get the answer he wanted to hear. "Say yes, Seto."

Seto glared at him. "Yes," he answered promptly, before turning away to add wood to the fire, completely ignoring the others.

_"Must you keep doing that?_" Ryou demanded with irritation. _"You know he doesn't like it."_

_"So what?"_ Bakura asked. _"Quickest way to get what I want. What's he going to do, resent me for something as simple as deciding the sleeping arrangements?" _

_"He might,"_ Ryou said. _"At least try asking him next time. You might even get the same answer, if you phrase it nicely." _

"Well, okay then…" Joey said. "I guess then Yugi ought to share with Mokuba, then. It'll be kind of a tight fit, but he's the only one of us with a hope of squeezing into a child's sleeping bag."

"So that means Duke and I will be sharing with you?" Mai asked, smirking at Joey.

"What gave you that idea?" Joey asked her, rolling out his own sleeping bag. "I said you two could sleep in the dirt, and I meant it."

"Well, if you insist," Duke said lightly, then grinned at Mai. "It'll be awfully cold tonight, I think. We'll just have to keep each other warm, won't we?"

Mai giggled, cuddling up against Duke and casting a sidelong look at Joey. "I guess we'll have to, if Joey isn't willing to share. But if that's the case, I don't think either of us will be getting much sleep…"

Joey tensed, glowering at the both of them. "Alright, alright! I'll share the damned sleeping bag."

"Why, what a generous offer," Mai purred at him. "But you know, I think I'll have to decline. After all, this way I'll get Duke all to myself."

"Like hell you will!"

"Now ladies," Duke said, laughing. "There's plenty of me to go around."

"Would you three cut it out?" Seto grumbled at them. "There are children present, you know."

"I'm not a little kid, Seto," Mokuba protested.

"If you tell me you understand what they're insinuating over there, I'm going to make sure you get grounded when we get home," Seto muttered.

"Chill out Seto, yeah?" Joey called over at him. "You know kids learn about sex by the third grade, these days."

"With people like you around, I'm honestly not surprised," Seto said. "Decide on your sleeping arrangements and go to bed already. The rest of us aren't interested in hearing about your love life." He laid out his own sleeping bag near to the fire, climbing into it and turning his back to the others.

"Don't hold it against him," Mokuba murmured softly to Joey. "You know he's not normally like this. It's just that lately…"

"Yeah," Joey interrupted. He glanced pointedly over at Bakura. "I think I know exactly what's pissing Seto off lately. And frankly, I don't really blame him."

"Mm-hmm," Mokuba said sadly. "But there's not much we can do about it, I'm afraid. I'm scared that if we try to stop him, he'll hurt Seto even more."

Bakura sat near to the fire, by all appearances ignoring their whispered conversation. Seto had already fallen asleep, or was trying very hard to appear that he had. Mokuba was probably right, Bakura decided; Seto made a pretty good hostage. If anyone tried opposing Bakura, he could very easily take it out on Seto.

Though that would pretty much destroy all that he'd been working for. Not for the first time, Bakura resented that damned Blue Eyes White Dragon for presenting him with this challenge. But he couldn't very well back down from it now. This was a matter of pride.

_"Only pride?"_ Ryou broke into his thoughts. _"Or maybe something more?"_

_"Shut up,"_ Bakura commanded irritably.

_"No, really, I'm curious is all,"_ Ryou continued. _"Are you really doing all this because a dragon dared you to? Or because you maybe actually like Seto?"_

_"Shut. Up."_

_"Because you seem to be going to an awful lot of trouble for this." _Ryou seemed oblivious to Bakura's anger. _"You don't always get it right, but you're trying. You even listen to my advice. Sometimes, anyway."_

_"If you don't shut up right now, I'm going to banish you back into that card."_

_"We have a deal, remember?"_ Ryou reminded him calmly. _"But you're right, maybe you actually don't care about Seto at all, and therefore don't _really_ need my advice. I'm sure you'll do just find blundering through it on your own."_

_"…and people call _me_ evil." _

Ryou didn't reply to that, though Bakura got the impression that the mortal was terribly pleased with himself at the moment. For a moment, Bakura seriously considered breaking his promise and banishing Ryou to someplace more foul than a card. Ryou was right, though; for the moment, Bakura did need his tenderhearted viewpoint and advice. But Bakura stubbornly avoiding thinking about Ryou's questions as to his motivations for doing this. Bakura wanted to make Seto care about him, and Bakura always got what he wanted. It was as simple as that.

With that clear in his mind, Bakura moved to join Seto in the sleeping bag. It was something of a tight fit, but if Bakura curled close enough to Seto, there was just enough room for the both of them. Bakura smiled faintly as he felt Seto stiffen as he moved close to him; apparently Seto had only been pretending to sleep after all.

"It's just me," Bakura whispered softly in Seto's ear. "You did agree to share your sleeping bag with me, after all."

"I don't recall you giving me much of a choice," Seto hissed. "You never do."

Bakura was quiet a moment, thinking as he enjoyed the warmth of Seto's body pressed so close against him. "If I had asked you, would you have agreed?"

"We'll never know, now will we?"

"…_May _I share your sleeping bag with you?"

Seto was silent for a moment, before pointing out the obvious. "You already are."

"Yeah. But I could always leave," Bakura said.

"Would you?" With some difficulty, Seto managed to maneuver around in the sleeping bag so he could look Bakura in the eye. "If I told you no, would you leave?"

The thought of sleeping in the dirt was in no way appealing. Remaining here in the shared warmth of the sleeping bag _was_ appealing. But a night in the dirt, covered with bugs probably wouldn't kill him. "Yeah," he said reluctantly. "I guess, if you really want me to…"

Seto gave him an unreadable look, then gave a partial shrug. "Whatever. You might as well stay, you're here already."

Ryou muffled a soft giggle. _"Told you so."_

_"I swear by all the ancient gods," _Bakura silently snarled at him, _"if you say that one more time, you're going to regret it." _

_"Got it. I'll shut up now."_

_x.x.x_


	24. Making Destiny

Making Destiny

_x.x.x_

The fire was beginning to die down, though its weak glow still softly illuminated the tiny makeshift camp. Yugi and Mokuba had curled up in Mokuba's small sleeping bag. Joey, Mai and Duke sat up, talking in whispered conversation so as not to wake their sleeping friends. But none of these were of interest to the watcher carefully concealed in the shadows of the trees.

Noa was getting cold. The campfire looked pretty inviting; he hadn't thought to bring a sleeping bag of his own. None of the many business classes his father had made him take, none of the many tutors he'd had over the years, had given him the slightest inkling of basic survival skills in the woods. He had no idea how to make a campfire of his own. Not only that, but as his stomach growled loud enough he was sure the camp's occupants should be able to hear, he realized he was getting very hungry as well. In a few minutes he would have to find some shelter and warmth for himself.

But it could wait just a moment more. Noa raised his binoculars again, which he had brought for the sole purpose of Seto-watching. Seto appeared to be asleep as well. But curled next to him, sharing the same _sleeping_ _bag_, was a white-haired boy that seemed determined to get as close to Seto as physically possible. Noa grit his teeth, his hands clenching around the binoculars. How _dare_ that boy presume to get so close to Seto? It wasn't fair at all. Noa saw him _first_! Yes, Noa was most certainly going to have to put a stop to this.

In the clearing, Duke finally moved to put out the fire for the night. In the darkness, Noa carefully tried to climb down from his perch. Partway down, his foot slipped on a branch, and he tumbled down into the bushes below.

"What was that?" Mai whispered, startled by the crashing in the brush.

Joey dug around in his bag for a flashlight, shining the light at the nearby trees. Nothing moved but a few leaves swaying slightly in the breeze.

"Probably a raccoon or something," Joey said. "Nothing to worry about. Haven't you ever camped out in the woods before?"

"No!" Mai said. "Are you kidding? Getting leaves in my hair and dirt on my clothes? No thank you. What about you? You came prepared enough, you go camping in the woods often?"

"Me?" Joey asked. "No way. But a bunch of friends and I used to hang out in the empty warehouses all the time. And those have a lot worse in them than raccoons."

"Like what?" Duke asked. "Gangsters?"

"Worse." Joey grinned. "Rats. Hundreds of big, gray rats with glowing red eyes and tiny, sharp teeth."

"Ewww!" Mai shuddered, moving close against Joey and looking around herself as if she expected to see tiny red rat eyes watching her from the darkness.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Duke said, pulling the sleeping bag up to cover over them. "Joey and I will protect you from all the little creepy crawlies in the night."

"Oh yeah?" Mai asked, snuggling up with her two boys, as they got ready for bed. "And who protects me from you two?"

"With us," Joey said, "you're just going to have to take your chances."

_x.x.x_

Yami came awake slowly as the sunlight filtered through the leaves. He was disoriented at first, unable to remember where he was, staring up at the dazzling array of green leaves above him without realizing just what they were at first. Memory came back to him a bit at a time, as it usually did in early mornings. His pain was lessened this morning, and he remembered how Seto and the Tomb Robber had helped him with that in the moonlight the night before. And then they had gone to bed, though they'd had to share sleeping bags…

Yami tensed, remembering that he did in fact have a bed partner. Mokuba was still asleep, curled gently against him, his head resting on Yami's shoulder and one arm draped over him. Now Yami remembered why he'd gone to sleep in the comfort of his soul room, letting Yugi rough it out in the woods. Yami certainly wouldn't have gotten much sleep with Mokuba sleeping so close to him.

"Mmm?" Mokuba stirred next to him, blinking at him sleepily, then smiling. "G'morning, Yami."

"Good morning," Yami murmured, trying to very slowly extricate himself from the warm folds of the sleeping bag. The morning air was a little chilly, making Yami shiver.

Mokuba blinked at Yami, frowning slightly. "Where are you going?"

Any number of reasonable excuses came to mind, but with Mokuba watching him so honestly bewildered, Yami couldn't lie to him, even to spare his feelings. "I'm sorry Mokuba. I just can't."

"Can't what?" Mokuba asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Sleep next to me for even a moment? You worry too much, it's not like I'm gonna rape you or something."

Yami frowned. "I think Seto was right. You know far too much about such matters at your age."

"Seto's right about a lot of things," Mokuba pointed out. "He is a genius, after all. And he'd be right about this too, _if I were a little kid._ I'm not a child, Yami! You don't have to treat me like I'm some little innocent too stupid to know what they're really feeling."

"That was certainly never my intention, Mokuba," Yami said. "You seem very sure of yourself and your feelings now, and I respect that. But in the end, you would end up hurt. You may even end up hating me. And I'm not going to risk that." He got up, then moved to search through Yugi's small pack. "Let's see if there's anything for breakfast."

"You're changing the subject," Mokuba pointed out.

"Yes I am," Yami agreed readily.

Across from the fire pit, Joey yawned, sitting up and blinking at the two of them sleepily. "Did I hear somebody say breakfast?"

The little group came awake one at a time, with Seto and Bakura being the last to leave the warm comforts of their sleeping bag. They all pooled together what meager foodstuffs they'd brought, managing to come up with just enough to make a decent breakfast for them all.

"We'd better make it to that castle by lunchtime," Joey said, licking the last of his meal off his fingers. "Otherwise, we're all going to starve."

"We could always resort to cannibalism," Bakura offered.

Joey glowered at him. "You stay away from me."

"Joey's right though," Mokuba said, rummaging around his backpack just to make sure there wasn't any food left in that he'd missed. "And if we want to get inside that castle before we starve, we need to get started on this tournament right away today."

"We can win more of these star chips if we split up into smaller groups," Duke pointed out. "Mai, Joey and I will take the north, Seto and Mokuba can take the west, and Yugi and Ryou can take the east."

"Thanks all the same, but I'll be staying with Seto," Bakura said, giving Seto a brief grin which Seto ignored.

"Yugi has to come with us, too," Mokuba said stubbornly. "We're not just gonna let him wander around on his own."

Duke shrugged. "Suit yourself. Better than nothing, I guess. So you guys take the west, and we'll take the north, then."

Seto dug out a map from his bag that had been handed out during the tournament opening. He studied it for a moment, then pointed out a spot on it. "There's a bunch of caverns around this area, we can meet up there sometime this afternoon."

Everyone agreed on the plan, then packed up the camp and headed in their separate directions.

_x.x.x_

_"They're this way,"_ Marik hissed in his host's mind. _"Can't you go any faster?"_

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Malik said aloud, sprinting down the path through the trees. "Why are we in such a hurry anyway? We're on an island, it's not like they're going anywhere."

_"Are you questioning my orders!"_ Marik demanded darkly.

"No!" Malik hastened to assure him. "No, no of course not. All I meant was-"

"Would you shut up? I don't have time for your pathetic whining. Just find them already."

Malik swallowed the rest of what he was going to say, murmuring only a small, "Yes, Master."

They were getting pretty close, Malik realized. He could hear the sounds of a duel going on up ahead. As he neared the clearing, he peeked out from behind a tree, surveying the scene. The nearest of the two duelists had his back to him, a tall boy with brown hair whose current monster on the field appeared to be quite an impressive white dragon.

­_"Hey!"_ Marik said, almost amused. _"It's the boy with the nice ass."_

_Nice ass?_ Malik wondered, blinking at the duelist again. Well, perhaps he was nice enough to look at from the back. But he'd certainly never suspected the dark presence in his mind was into that sort of thing.

_"If he's here,"_ Marik continued. _"Then the holder of the Millennium Ring must be around here too. And there is our other target; the holder of the Millennium Puzzle."_

Malik looked over to where his darker side directed his attentions. The keeper of the Millennium Puzzle was nothing like Malik had imagined him to be. The boy was shorter than he'd expected, with wildly tri-colored hair styled into spikes. He was enthusiastically cheering for the boy with the nice ass. The little boy was… actually very cute.

_"Hello?"_ Marik demanded. _"Wake up, shit head. There will be plenty of time to admire the boy when he's a corpse. You've got a mission to do, remember? Unless, you'd prefer me to take over…"_

_"No!"_ Malik protested. He paused, chewing his lower lip._ "Do we really have to hurt him?"_

_"Don't you know who that IS?"_ Marik asked. _"That boy is the reincarnation of the Pharaoh. The very reason for the markings on your back. The reason you grew up in darkness, never allowed to see the outside world, with only me for company."_

_"Him?"_ Malik blinked at the boy, trying to imagine him in royal robes, acting as the Pharaoh. _"Are you sure? Isn't he a little short to be a king?"_

_"Why else would he be wearing the Millennium Puzzle?"_ Marik demanded. _"The Millennium Items go to the ones they belong to, destiny doesn't just deal them out randomly."_

_"But if each item goes to the one it belongs to, how do you expect me to steal them? Isn't that, like, messing with destiny or something?"_

Marik was silent a moment. _"You're questioning me again, aren't you?"_

_"No!"_

_"Then do as I say. We make our own destiny."_

Not even pretending to understand that convoluted logic, Malik moved into the clearing. The holder of the Millennium Puzzle heard his approaching footsteps, and turned to look at him. The boy's welcoming smile was dazzling, and Malik came to an abrupt halt as he felt his knees buckle. The boy had the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen in his life.

_"…I don't think I can do this."_

_"What do you MEAN?"_ Marik snarled._ "You're going to let a pair of bright amethyst eyes deter you from your task?"_

Malik didn't reply to that, instead offering the boy a smile in return. "Um, hey. I heard the duel going on over here, thought I'd come to see how it was going. Do you mind if I watch a while? I'm Malik Ishtar."

"Yugi Motou," the boy introduced himself. He pointed up to the boy with the nice ass. "That's Seto Nishimura. His little brother Mokuba is over on the other side, trying to get a better view. It's nice to meet you. You're welcome to stay if you like, but I think the duel is almost over. Seto's really good. Hardly anybody beats him once he has his Blue Eyes White Dragon on the field."

_"You're not supposed to chat with him,"_ Marik muttered in irritation.

_"Would you please be quiet and let me do this? I know what I'm doing."_

Marik fell silent at that, waiting for his host to prove himself. Malik just hoped he really _did _know what he was doing.


	25. In a Shallow Grave

In a Shallow Grave

_x.x.x_

After Seto had finished his duel and collected the star chips he had won, he descended from the dueling platform and found Yugi happily talking with a tanned blonde boy. Mokuba climbed down from the large rock he'd chosen for his seat, hurrying over to the group.

"Wasn't that the greatest duel ever?" Mokuba demanded proudly. "My brother is the best!"

"I'm hardly the best," Seto said. "But it's nice you think so. Who's your new friend, Yugi?"

"This is Malik Ishtar," Yugi introduced. "We've been talking, he's really nice. He's from Egypt, too!"

"Egypt, huh?" Seto murmured. He frowned thoughtfully at Malik. "Seems like a lot of interesting things have been turning up from Egypt lately. But if Yugi likes you, you're welcome to stick around."

"Speaking of weird things from Egypt," Mokuba murmured, looking around the surrounding woods suspiciously. "Where'd the Tomb Robber go?"

"Tomb Robber?" Malik asked, his eyes widening a little. From what his darker side had said, that would probably be the holder of the Millennium Ring.

"He means Bakura," Yugi explained to Malik. "He's kinda been… following us around lately."

"More like stalking Seto!" Mokuba put in. "He's not very nice _at all._ It's weird that he's not here though…"

"What's the matter, little dragon?" said Bakura, emerging from the woods, dragging something heavy behind him. "Miss me?"

"Hardly," Mokuba muttered. "What'cha got there?"

"Lunch," Bakura explained. He dragged a cowering Noa into the clearing. "Found the little voyeur spying in the bushes. From the trail, it looks like he's been following us for a while. Friend of yours?"

Seto groaned. "Noa, I told you to stay the hell away from me."

Malik blinked, eyeing the sniveling boy on the ground, then looking at Seto. "Just how many stalkers do you have, anyway?"

"Too many." Seto glared at Noa, then at Bakura, before grabbing his backpack and turning away. "Those two are just the most annoying of them all."

Bakura's grin was predatory, like a cat watching a mouse it planned to tear apart for the sheer fun of it. He grabbed Noa's shirt collar, hauling him up to his feet. "Let me kill him for you, Seto."

Seto tensed, wondering if Bakura realized he'd just phrased that as a command. "You can if you want to," he said slowly.

Noa yelped, trying to struggle out of Bakura's grip. "Seto! You can't mean that! I wasn't doing anything wrong, I didn't mean anything, I was just…"

"Stalking him," Bakura finished for him, holding out Noa's binoculars. "I've seen the way you hang all over him. It's disgusting."

"Oh yeah," Mokuba muttered. "Like you're so much better. You may be able to tell Seto what to do, but _I_ am not going to let you kill anybody. Not even a little worm like Noa." He stomped down hard on Bakura's foot.

Bakura let out a startled cry of pain, dropping Noa. Noa quickly scrambled to hide behind Seto, peering over at Bakura fearfully. Seto just sighed, watching the whole thing with a long-suffering sort of look. Yugi's violet eyes blended into crimson, and Yami carefully stepped between Mokuba and Bakura, to protect the boy from what was sure to be Bakura's swift revenge.

And a hundred different plans for revenge came instantly to Bakura's mind as he glared at Mokuba. They ranged from swift death to tearing Mokuba's soul into tiny pieces and trapping each within a different duel monsters card. It was only Ryou's swift intervention that stopped Bakura from trying any of these options.

_"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"_

_"Well you're not me,"_ Bakura snarled back at Ryou, clutching at the Millennium Ring and feeling its power surge. _"If you were me, you'd want to kill him now too."_

_"So he hurt your foot, big deal, you'll get over it,"_ Ryou said quickly. _"He didn't break anything. Besides, if you think about it, that was really MY foot he just stepped on, anyway."_

_"I'm not going to let some runt of a child get away with that."_

_"Well, if you insist," _Ryou said with a sigh. _"But Seto will be so upset if you kill his little brother." _When Bakura paused, Ryou pressed the point. _"You know how much Mokuba means to Seto. More than his own soul. Which really is what got Seto into this mess in the first place." _

Bakura glowered, but finally relaxed his aggressive stance. He eyed the Pharaoh and Mokuba with contempt, then turned away. "Well come on already. We're supposed to be meeting up with the others." Without even waiting for a response to that, he walked down the path into the woods.

The others blinked after him in confusion.

"What do you suppose that was all about?" Malik wondered aloud.

"I don't know. I was sure he was gonna hurt me for that…" Mokuba said.

"Well what do you know…" Yami said. "Maybe the Tomb Robber is developing a conscience after all."

"I doubt it," Seto muttered. "Come on, the others are probably at the caverns by now. And you-" He glared at Noa. "Don't follow us!"

Noa watched as the group followed the trail after Bakura. He'd been caught by surprise once, but it wasn't going to happen again. He grabbed his binoculars off the ground, dusting them off, then determinedly followed after Seto.

_x.x.x_

Joey, Mai and Duke were waiting for Yugi and the others when they arrived. Joey spotted them first, jumping up from his seat and waving at them.

"Check it out!" Joey said, holding out his gloved hand, where three new star chips gleamed on the cuff. "That makes six of them. Those duelists didn't know what hit them!"

"We're pretty sure it was his body odor that hit them first," Duke added in a conspiratorial tone.

"Hey, shut up!" Joey snapped at him.

"That's great, Joey!" Yugi said. "At this rate, we probably will make it to the castle by lunch. Where's the next dueling arena?" He dug out his map, frowning at it. "There should be one around here somewhere."

"I think," Malik said quietly, "the next arena is down there." He pointed a ways down the path, to where the entrance of a cave was half-hidden by scraggly shrubs. The path disappeared down into the gaping entrance.

"Well if our next challenge is down there, then let's go!" Joey said. "I'm on a roll, nobody can beat me now!"

"Well, if you insist," Yugi said with a laugh. He followed after as Joey sprinted into the cave.

Even with their large group, they all fit within the cave entrance. After only a few yards in, everything was already enshrouded in darkness. Joey and Seto dug their flashlights out of their path, shining the beams of light down the long tunnel.

"I can't see a thing," Mai complained. "Are you sure the next arena is down here? Why would anybody in their right mind put a dueling platform down here?"

"That's what the map said," Yugi murmured. "It should be around here somewhere, probably not much farther, and-" He yelped suddenly as he tripped on something on the path, tumbling to the ground. "Owww! What the heck is this?" He prodded at the jumble of hard, thin sticks he had tripped on.

"Let me see." Seto shone his flashlight on the mess, illuminating a partially unearthed skeleton.

Any cry of horror was immediately drowned out by the sound of something heavy grating on stone, the tunnel echoing and quaking violently. Everyone ducked for cover, but in moments the tremors had subsided.

"What just happened?" Duke asked in the sudden silence.

Joey shone his flashlight back the way they had come. "That's what happened."

A very large boulder now blocked the cave's only exit.


	26. Mazes Within Mazes

Mazes Within Mazes

_x.x.x_

There really wasn't anything to be done except keep going. The boulder had blocked the only exit, and no matter how hard any of them pushed, it simply could not be budged. And so the group continued down the path, hoping that somewhere down one of these tunnels, they would find another way out.

They started walking in silence, though as the tunnel slanted downward and their trek took them deeper underground, the group began to talk in hushed voices, mostly to hear themselves talk so the surrounding darkness would not seem so oppressive. Bakura was the only one that remained silent, hanging back from the group and mostly lost in his own thoughts. The group seemed to have forgotten he was there, and for the moment that suited him just fine. It gave him a chance to study the newest member of their group, the blonde Egyptian boy that Yugi had called Malik.

There was something very familiar about that boy, something that he couldn't quite place. It was just a feeling, that behind that innocent and cheerful attitude, Malik was hiding some sort of dark presence.

_"Well,"_ Ryou finally said, breaking his silent contemplation, _"it takes one to know one."_

_"Shut up,"_ Bakura responded automatically, though he realized that Ryou was right. It was possible that Malik was hiding a fiend of his own, just as Bakura had hid his presence behind Ryou's. And possibly that would explain another little thing that was nagging at him.

Bakura's Millennium Ring had the unique power of being able to locate other Millennium Items. Since arriving on the island, Bakura had mostly been ignoring the silent, gentle prodding of the Millennium Ring. After all, he already _knew_ that there were more items in the area, both Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, and Pegasus' Millennium Eye. He assumed the Ring was trying to point out things he was already aware of. But the Ring's insistent tugs had become stronger since Malik had joined their group.

_"So… Malik has a Millennium Item as well,"_ Bakura mused. _"That does make things more interesting. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to bring him along after all."_

_"Malik has a Millennium Item?"_ Ryou question, sounding skeptical. _"How can you tell?"_

Bakura lifted the Millennium Ring, giving it a gentle shake. The dangling golden points stirred gently, then began to lift of their own accord. One pointed toward Yugi to indicate the Puzzle. One pointed off into the vague distance, picking up the force of the Millennium Eye. And one pointed distinctly to Malik.

_"The Ring is certain. He has an Item. One that I would be happy to relieve him of."_

_"So what's the other little pointer pointing at?"_ Ryou questioned.

Bakura glanced at the Ring again, noticing a fourth point was tugging back the way they had come. _"So, there is yet another Millennium Item on the island. And whomever has it seems to be following after us. This trip will prove to be very profitable indeed."_

_"If you're still so determined to take the Millennium Items, then how come you haven't challenged Yami to another duel?"_

Bakura paused in mid-step, blinking. _"What?"_

_"Well, you keep saying that you're going to take the Millennium Puzzle from him. And to do that, you have to win a duel against him, right? So, how come that even weakened as he is, even though you're practically guaranteed to win, you haven't challenged him again?"_

_"What, you_ want _me to?"_

_"I didn't say I want you to,"_ Ryou said patiently. _"I'm just curious as to why you don't seem to want to."_

Bakura frowned at Yugi walking ahead of him, before his gaze inevitably slid instead to Seto. _"I just don't feel like it now, that's all,"_ he finally replied in irritation.

_"Uh-huh."_ Ryou's replied seemed all too smug to Bakura. Ryou said nothing more, but Bakura could easily feel his amusement.

_"What's so funny?"_ Bakura demanded.

_"Let's face it; deep down, you might actually be a nice guy."_

_"I most certainly am NOT!"_ Bakura protested vehemently. _"Need I remind you that I not only stole your form and trapped you in a card, but I am currently in possession of Seto's soul as well, tormenting him for my own amusement?"_

_"Yeah, but you'll be letting his soul go,"_ Ryou said lightly.

_"Yeah? What makes you think I'll be doing that?"_

_"Because once you make him fall in love with you, owning his soul is a little redundant,"_ Ryou said. _"There wouldn't be a point to it anymore."_

Bakura glowered. _"Still doesn't mean I'll be giving him up."_

_"Yeah, yeah, we'll just see about that."_ Ryou still seemed far too pleased with his own logic, but Bakura was tired of trying to argue with what amounted to a voice inside his head, and so he let the matter drop.

"Hold on!" Mokuba's urgent whisper silenced the others of the group. "I think I saw something. Give me your flashlight!"

Seto handed his flashlight over to his little brother. The beam of light shook a little as Mokuba pointed it down one of the darkened tunnels. As the shadows were chased away, it revealed none other than Noa Kaiba, blinking and cringing at the light shining in his face. Mokuba huffed, handing the flashlight back to Seto.

"Never mind," Mokuba muttered. "False alarm."

Noa brightened when he saw whom he had come across, and it was only Bakura's dark glare that kept him from running over to tackle Seto. It didn't, however, keep Noa from gushing with excitement. "Oh thank goodness I found you, Seto! I've been looking for you everywhere! I tried moving that boulder those guys pushed in front of the entrance, but it wouldn't budge!"

Seto raised an eyebrow, momentarily torn between wanting to beat Noa unconscious with his flashlight, and finding out how the heck Noa had gotten in here if the entrance was blocked. And there was that little matter of _why_ the entrance was blocked. "Guys?" he questioned. "What guys? Why would anybody want to trap us down here on purpose?"

Noa shrugged. "I don't know. I just saw these two guys pushing the boulder, saying something about how some guy named Bandit Keith would think it was really funny to trap you all down here."

"So how did you get down here?" Duke asked.

"Oh, there's another way in!" Noa said brightly. "I came across it… well, more like tripped and fell down it, but I found another entrance. You wouldn't believe how dank and dirty some of these passageways are! Pegasus really ought to keep his island a bit cleaner…"

"There's another entrance?" Seto interrupted him. "Show us."

"Well, it seems like the little bug is going to be good for something after all…" Bakura muttered.

Noa nodded, but looked around uncertainly. "Um…" he finally said, pointing to the passageway he had come down. "It's this way… I think…"

"You think?" Mai demanded. "You don't know?"

"Well, I was stumbling around in the dark here!" Noa snapped at her. "And there are a 'lot' of tunnels down here; you can't blame me for having gotten a little lost on my way in!"

The group let out a collective groan. Bakura folded his arms, announcing to the world in general, "I still say we should have eaten him."

"Speaking of food," Yugi said softly. "I'm starting to get hungry. Maybe we ought to keep going, and worry about eviscerating Noa later?"

"Yugi has a point," Malik agreed. "We ought to keep walking. We may not know which way we're going, but we're not getting anywhere by just standing around here."

_"Make the Tomb Robber find the way,"_ Marik suddenly spoke up in Malik's mind.

_"The Tomb Robber?"_ Malik asked. _"How's he supposed to help? He's as lost as we are."_

_"Think about it. The boy robs tombs, right? He should be used to wandering around in dark, cramped spaces. Plus he has the Millennium Ring, and one of its purposes is for finding things. Make him find the way out."_

"Tomb Robber," Malik said aloud. "You could find the way out, couldn't you?"

"Me?" Bakura asked. "This isn't the Valley of the Kings here, you know. And I'm about five thousand years out of practice."

"Still, we've got a better chance following you than with following Noa," Seto said dryly.

Bakura blinked, a little surprised that Seto willingly showed any faith in his abilities. It was… rather touching, actually. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. I suppose it couldn't be that hard; Pegasus probably wouldn't really risk that some duelists would get lost down here and starve to death."

"Wait a minute!" Noa demanded. "Are you saying that you could do a better job of this than I could?"

"Yeah," Bakura said, "that's exactly what I'm saying. Now get out of my way."

Noa opened his mouth to continue arguing with him, then apparently thought better of it and scurried away from Bakura to join up with the bulk of the group. Bakura watched him a moment to be sure Noa wasn't going to inappropriately attach himself to Seto, before setting out down one of the tunnels.

_"Are you sure you're going to be able to find the way out?"_ Ryou questioned Bakura tentatively.

_"The Millennium Ring will point the way to the Millennium Eye. If we follow that, we'll find the way to the castle at least,"_ Bakura replied.

_"Seto will be so disappointed with you if you're wrong."_

_"I'm not wrong. See, up ahead, there's a light."_

"Is that the way out up there?" Yugi asked, pointing to the dim light that shone up ahead. It was shadowy and flickering, and it certainly didn't look like daylight. All the same, the group was more than willing to run toward it.

The tunnel abruptly opened up into a large cavern. A dueling platform painted in dark colors sat in the very middle of the room, and surrounding it on all sides and crowding up against the walls were…

"Graves…" Noa whispered, scooting back a little into the tunnel.

Tombstones filled the small room, a fine mist wreathing about their crumbled looking structures. Unearthed bones were scattered across the path, mocking skulls staring up at the group, their unhinged jaws wide in eternally silent laughter.

"Welcome, mortals," a thin voice whispered from the dark. "Welcome to the realm of the dead. Make yourselves comfortable, for you shall not be leaving. These graves you see will soon be your own."

Joey took a hold of one of the tombstones, pulling on it. It lifted up easily from the ground, and Joey thwapped it against the wall once or twice. "These are cardboard, you know."

Mokuba poked at the pile of skulls sitting to one side. "I think these are paper maché. Pretty realistic though; think I could take a few of these home for my next Halloween party?"

"Oh, come on!" the thin voice said. A pale boy with blue hair and starved looking features climbed up onto the far side of the dueling platform, glaring at all of them with unnaturally bright eyes. "Couldn't you people at least _try_ to be scared?"

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I think Noa wet his pants," Bakura said cheerfully. "Who're you?"

"Bones," the boy said with a pout. "I am the keeper of the graveyard."

"Some keeper," Joey said. "I've gotten things caught in my teeth that were scarier than you."

"I hope you know an alternative way out of here, Mr. Bones, or this place might become a graveyard in truth," Mai said. She gestured back the way they had come. "That way's all blocked off."

Bones grinned so wide it seemed to stretch all the skin on his face taut. "I know. But I'm not the one in danger of dying down here. I know the way out, but I don't think that I'll be telling it to you. You guys can wander around down here hopelessly until you pass out for all I care."

"You work with the guys that trapped us down here, don't you?" Malik asked quietly. "What do you want?"

_"Let me mind-slave him,"_ Marik whispered eagerly to Malik. _"I can 'make' him show us the way out."_

Malik ignored Marik's request. Enslaving people's minds always made him feel a little sick to his stomach afterward. Besides, if the Millennium Puzzle happened to pick up on the power surge and Yugi figured out what Marik was up to… Malik just didn't think he'd be able to face the disappointment in Yugi's eyes. Marik made a grumbling comment about what a lovesick moron Malik was becoming, but obligingly fell silent again.

"Yeah, I work for Bandit Keith," Bones said, absently shuffling the pack of Duel Monster's cards in his hands. "And all that we want is all of your star chips. Every last one. But I'm willing to duel you for them. It would be a pity to have to wait a few days to take them off your dead bodies."

"You want a duel?" Joey said. "I'll duel ya. You don't seem so tough to me. You just talk big."

Joey approached the dueling platform, but Bakura caught his arm to stop him.

"No," Bakura said, grinning maddeningly. "Let me. It's been a while since I've been able to do something… truly wicked."

Joey gave Bakura a disturbed look, but Duke chimed in before Joey could argue. "Come on, Joey, you've been dueling and winning all day long. Give somebody else a chance."

Joey glanced over at Duke, then shrugged and stepped aside. Bakura took out his dueling deck and took his place across from Bones on the dueling platform. It _had_ been a while since Bakura had been able to do something mean without having to worry about what Seto would think about it, and he was more than willing to take this opportunity to prove to Ryou (and maybe to himself as well) that he was _not_ a nice guy.

Seto sat down as Bakura and Bones began their duel. The moment the two set down their decks and the duel began, Seto started feeling a little sick. His head pounded with an aching throb in time to his heartbeat, and his insides suddenly felt all twisted. He leaned back against one of the tombstones, taking deep, slow breaths and trying not to be sick. He couldn't even concentrate on the duel, or even the fabulous quality of the duel monster holograms. With every card that Bakura played, the pain became worse, spreading throughout his body like a fire in his veins.

"Seto?" Mokuba's soft whisper barely registered in Seto's aching head. "Are you okay?"

Seto didn't have a chance to answer, for Bakura drew another card and Seto's heart seemed to forcibly stop beating in his chest.

"You and your pathetic zombie cards never stood a chance," Bakura informed Bones. He placed down the card he had just drawn, and the lights of the dueling platform went instantly to work at constructing the hologram. "Allow me to introduce you to my Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

The pounding pressure in Seto's head instantly became a rush of roaring white noise. Pain lanced through his body like wildfire, and he couldn't seem to make his lungs draw in even one more breath. The whole fake graveyard swam before his eyes, blurring and melting into a wash of colors, until Seto's mind mercifully decided he had had enough, and shut down completely. In the darkness that enfolded him, there was no pain at all.

_x.x.x_

"What were you thinking!" Yami's angry whisper intruded into Seto's comfortable darkness. "You trap his soul in a card, then you play it in a duel without a thought to what it could do to him? You're lucky all he did was pass out; you could have _killed_ him!"

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Bakura's voice snapped back. "Nothing like this happened the last time I took people's souls from their bodies. If you recall, in the last duel, Yugi, Mokuba and Seto woke up afterward feeling just _fine_, thank you."

"The last time, you didn't leave any trace of consciousness in their bodies," Yami retorted. "If they're empty shells, they won't feel a thing if you play their cards. This time, you left a link from the soul to the body, and playing his soul like it were a mere card obviously _hurts._"

"Obviously," Bakura muttered.

"If you ever try a stunt like that again," Yami growled, "I'll make being mummified alive seem like an appealing alternative."

"We're not in Egypt now, _Pharaoh,_ and I am not one of your minions to be ordered about as you like. Seto is _mine_, and I'll do whatever I damn well please with him."

"Would you two kindly shut up?" Seto managed to groan. "Some of us are trying to remain unconscious here."

"Seto!" came Mokuba's happy cheer, moments before Seto was tackled by his over exuberant brother. "We thought you were gonna go into a coma or something!"

"Well, it wasn't for lack of trying," Seto muttered. He opened his eyes slowly, wincing as even the dim light seemed too bright to his eyes. "Owww… what happened?"

"Bakura played your Blue Eyes in his duel," Mokuba said. "And… and then you just kinda… passed out."

"Yeah, I got that part," Seto muttered, glancing over at Bakura. Bakura didn't look away, his expression betraying no emotion at all. "What I meant was… did my Blue Eyes win the duel?"

Bakura looked startled, before grinning slowly. "Yeah, you won."

Seto nodded, sitting up slowly and rubbing his sore head. "Help me up, would you?"

Bakura took Seto's hand and helped him to his feet, while Yami and Mokuba stared at Seto in shock.

"After what he just did to you, you're not even _mad_ at him?" Mokuba finally demanded.

Seto shrugged. "Bakura's right; he does pretty much whatever he wants with me, and I don't get much choice in the matter. But at least this time I don't think he meant to hurt me. And I feel mostly okay now." He didn't look at Bakura as he walked past him, frowning at the empty dueling platform. "Where'd Bones go?"

"He ran off the moment he lost the duel," Yami said. "Joey, Mai and Duke ran after him, but I think he got away."

"Hey guys!" Mai called as she ran into the cavern. "Come see what we found!" She ran back down the tunnel without giving them a chance to answer, and the group hurried to catch up with her.

Joey and Duke were waiting for them down a different tunnel, by what appeared to be a pair of giant, ornately designed doors. As the group joined them, they pushed the doors open to reveal a massive room. It was dark, but they could just barely make out the shape of a very large, oddly designed dueling platform. The floors were tiled, and the walls were smooth.

"Maybe there's a light switch in here somewhere…" Joey said, stepping inside, his hands brushing against the wall to see if he could find one. The others stepped in the room after him, peering around the darkness.

There was only the faintest creak in warning, before the doors swung shut behind them, slamming closed with a resounding _bang_, followed by the distinct noise of a deadbolt locking into place.

"Damn it, not _again_!" Mai said, pounding on the door. The others helped her in trying to push the door back open, but it wouldn't budge.

There was a voice from the other side of the room, or rather two voices, speaking together. "Don't bother trying, you can't break these locks. It's time you faced the brothers Paradox!"

_x.x.x_

Author's Notes: Darn it, whose idea was it to make the Paradox brothers talk in rhyme, anyway? This is gonna be a pain to write in the next chapter. I do hope all my readers will forgive me for what promises to be a chapter full of very poorly written poetic verse. Anyway, until next time, ta-ta, everyone!


	27. Through the Woods

Over the Hill and Through the Woods

_x.x.x_

Shiroi huffed in exasperation, glowering at the mirror of the Shadow Realm, portraying the underground cavern in which Yami and the others stood in the dark, waiting to face whatever nemesis awaited them there. "That's it. I'm done; I quit."

"What do you mean, you quit?" Midori said, poking him in the side with her claw. "They haven't even started the duel yet. And Yami's doing fine at the moment, all things considering. Should be a few hours at least before he needs more energy from the Millennium Ring."

"What's the point?" Shiroi said. "They're all running on empty here. They haven't had food, and if all these distractions keep turning up, there's no way they'll make it to the castle before they all starve."

"They'll make it," Hansha said quietly. "Relax; you know they'll make it."

"Even if they do," Shiroi muttered, "no matter how much energy Bakura gives Yami, even if that little pipsqueak Malik gives all the power from the Millennium Rod, Yami still won't be in any condition to duel. He's barely hanging on as it is. Face it; we might as well end it now."

"How can you even think that?" Midori yelled at him. "If we give up now, they win! Yami and Yugi will 'die,' Seto will spend the rest of his existence as Bakura's bitch, and Pegasus gets… well, whatever it is he's after."

"Unless that boy Malik wins," Hansha put in. He frowned at Shiroi. "Pipsqueak though he may be, he has a darker force driving him. That darker side wants the Egyptian God Cards. If we give up now, likely he'll get them. Do you really want to explain to all the other Guardians why it is you let that 'pipsqueak' destroy the known world?"

"This is pointless," Shiroi growled, but he sat back down in front of the mirror once more. "We're letting them waste too much time with all these inconsequential challenges."

"We're letting them build up their strength," Midori said.

"They're _losing_ strength, and they're running out of time," Shiroi muttered.

"Don't be so negative. They'll make it in time," Hansha said. He looked back to the mirror, whispering to himself, "I hope…"

_x.x.x_

"This will be a double duel," the Paradox brothers were saying as the lights came on, revealing the ornate chamber with the dueling platform in the center. It had a somewhat different shape than Seto remembered designing. "Two against two; that's the rule."

"Great, rhyming," Bakura muttered. "Everywhere you go, you find new and inventive forms of idiocy."

The Paradox brothers shot a glare at Bakura, but continued. "If the two win, you'll go on ahead; if they lose, you'll all be dead."

"I dunno," Mokuba commented. "It sounds pretty rehearsed to me. Do you think they sit here in the dark writing these little speeches?"

"Definitely taking the twin thing a little too far," Joey said. "Dressing identically is one thing, but rhyming? Give it up, guys."

"You shut up!" one of the brothers, probably Para, snapped, giving up the rhyming bit. "Nobody's gotten this far yet, so it's not like we had anything _better_ to do! You could at least attempt to be impressed."

"Or we could quit wasting time and just have this duel," Duke said. "Since I'm assuming your job is to keep us from continuing to the castle."

"That's right," said Dox. He looked at his brother, shrugging. "I guess the rhymes are a bit lame, anyway."

"Fine, fine," Para huffed. "It's still a double duel. Two of you will duel the both of us, each side taking a turn. A little different than normal duels, but that's what makes it interesting, don't you think?"

"And to make it a little more interesting, _if_ you win, you have to pick a door." Dox gestured to the two doors behind him and his brother. "One leads to the castle, and one is an unending labyrinth that winds down through the island, which you will wander through forever. Or at least, until you're driven mad or starve. Whichever comes first."

"I can just imagine which door you'd prefer us to pick…" Mai grumbled.

"Well, we don't get paid if you make it to the castle, you know," Para said. "Having you get lost in an endless maze of corridors seems like a pretty good way to keep that from happening, don't you think? Unless of course you lose, in which case it's irrelevant anyway. So choose your duelists already."

"I'll duel," Malik offered. "All stakes aside, it seems like it'll be fun." He smiled shyly at Yugi. "Want to be my partner?"

Yugi opened his mouth to reply, but Mokuba interrupted him. "He can't. He's sick. Dueling will make it worse."

"How could dueling make anybody sick?" Noa wanted to know.

Yugi sighed, looking apologetically to Malik. "He's right. I probably shouldn't. I'd like to, but…"

"I'll duel," Bakura said. "Maybe these two will prove to be better opponents than that Bones kid." Bakura wasn't terribly interested in the challenge the Paradox brothers might be; he was a lot more interested in seeing if Malik had any tricks to pull with the Millennium Rod. The more he knew about the item, the easier he'd be able to steal it.

Mokuba glared at Bakura. "You can't duel either. You'll hurt Seto again! If you want to duel, you'll have to hand over that Blue Eyes White Dragon card to somebody else."

"Yeah, nice try," Bakura muttered. He shuffled through his deck for the Blue Eyes card. Seto felt a now familiar ache of want whenever he saw that card. His card, his _soul_… he wanted it back so much it was a physical hurt. "I just won't play it in the duel," Bakura continued, slipping it into his back pocket. "That should take care of that problem. Right Seto?"

Seto was a little uneasy about the card containing his soul being in such close proximity to Bakura's rear end, but he shrugged it off. "Do whatever you like; you will anyway."

"If you're done over there, we'd like to start this duel," Dox called from across the duel platform.

Bakura looked at the others. "Anybody else have a problem with me dueling?" The others said nothing, not willing to risk Bakura taking out his anger on Seto. "Alright then," Bakura muttered, then smiled at Seto. "Wish me luck?"

"Is that a command?" Seto asked.

"Nope."

Seto paused, frowning, then looked away. "Yeah. Good luck. Don't lose."

As Bakura grinned and headed for his place at one corner of the dueling platform, Yugi smiled at Malik. "Good luck to you too. I'm sure you'll do great."

Malik smiled and headed for his own corner of the platform, feeling inexplicably pleased by Yugi's confidence in him. Marik seemed disgusted that so much cuteness could be embodied in one boy, but Malik had these odd feelings that Marik was quietly studying Yugi when he thought Malik wouldn't notice. It seemed Malik's darker side wasn't as immune to Yugi's charms as he thought.

_This is silly,_ Marik said within Malik's mind. _Why did you volunteer to duel? This whole tournament is a stupid waste of time._

_Well maybe, but it's also kind of fun,_ Malik said. _Besides, we have to win the tournament if we want the God Cards, right? That means we'll have to duel at least once while we're here, you know._

Malik could feel the mental equivalent of Marik rolling his eyes. _You just wanted to duel so you could impress Yugi or some garbage like that. You've practically been drooling over him from the moment you saw him._

_I just like him is all,_ Malik said. _And so what if I do? You think Seto has a cute ass._

_I'm the one in charge here; I can admire his ass if I want to. You on the other hand have a job to do. So don't screw it up._

When all the players were in place and ready, the duel began. As the Paradox brothers began to play, Seto found out why the dueling platform had a different shape; it had apparently been built to accommodate the brothers' Labyrinth card, covering the field with a maze of holographic stone walls. It was an interesting tactic, but didn't really impress Seto much. Seemed a lot like a stalling tactic on their part.

The duel was… somewhat frustrating, Marik found. Malik's deck did not compliment Bakura's very well, and Bakura didn't seem terribly interested in playing like a team. Both partners managed to get in a couple of lucky shots, but the Paradox brothers were used to playing together, and their attacks were coordinated and swift. Malik and Bakura were going to lose this duel, Marik was sure of it.

Unless he helped them out a little.

The Pharaoh was too weakened to pick up on the subtler magics of the Millennium Rod. Marik was confident with his abilities with the Rod, and it was a simple thing to make a few gentle changes, influencing the minds of the Paradox brothers. As the duel went on, the Paradox brothers' moves seemed to get sloppier, more careless. Bakura and Malik made better attacks, their monsters crossing through the labyrinth and taking advantage of an overlooked flaw in the Paradox brothers' strategy. When the duel ended, Marik caught Bakura looking at him almost smugly. He got a distinct impression he'd just fallen into some sort of trap.

"So you won the duel, big deal," Para muttered.

"You still have to choose which door to go through," said Dox.

"We can give you hints, if you ask," said Para. "But one of us will tell the truth, and one of us will lie."

"We don't need any hints," Bakura muttered. He pointed to the door on the left. "It's that one."

The two brothers blinked at Bakura's abrupt answer. "You're… certain?"

"Yes." Bakura held up the Millennium Ring, giving it a light tap. The hanging pointers twirled lazily for a moment, then lazily pointed unerringly to the left door. "Nice try, but you can't fool a Millennium Item. We'll be taking our leave now."

The Paradox brothers just gawked at the group as they walked around the duel platform and out the chosen door. The tunnel beyond it led to another maze, though this one was simpler than the one they'd been wandering in before. Bakura just let the Millennium Ring guide the way through the maze, until they came across a large door at the end.

"So what do you think?" Joey asked, frowning at the door. "More weirdoes on the other side?"

"Probably triplets this time," Duke said.

"There's one way to find out," Seto said. He gave the door a push, and it swung outward. Everyone stepped out into the sunlight, finding themselves facing the bottom of a staircase. A very _long_ staircase, winding its way up a slope. At the top of the hill sat Pegasus' castle.


End file.
